Devices, systems, and methods can be used for the automated production of dendritic cells (DC) from dendritic cell progenitors, such as monocytes obtained from peripheral blood, and the automated generation of immunotherapeutic products from those dendritic cells, all within a closed system. The invention makes it possible to obtain sufficient quantities of a subject's own DC for use in preparing and characterizing vaccines, for activating and characterizing the activation state of the subject's immune response, and to aid in preventing and/or treating cancer or infectious disease.

The present invention relates to a method for ex vivo generating and expanding MHCII restricted CD4.sup.+ Foxp3.sup.+ regulatory T cells, and therapeutic uses thereof. The inventors here demonstrated the optimal conditions for inducing Foxp3 expression in naive CD3+ CD4+ TCRαβ+ MHCII restricted T following polyclonal or following antigen-specific activation. They also developed an experimental procedure to generate autologous CD8+ T cell lines functionally committed to lyse tumor-antigen specific FOXP3 expressing TCRαβ+ MHCII restricted T cells, pathogenic CD4+ T cells that favour tumor cell immune evasion. In particular, the present invention relates to a method for generating ex vivo MHCII restricted CD4+ Foxp3+ regulatory T cells having the following phenotype: CD3+ CD4+ Foxp3+.

Provided are: a composition for inducing direct conversion from somatic cells into common myeloid progenitor cells, the composition including a chemical cocktail; a method of direct conversion of somatic cells into common myeloid progenitor cells and macrophages by using the composition; common myeloid progenitor cells or macrophages prepared by the method; a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating fibrosis or scars, cell therapeutics, a composition for screening drugs, and a 3D printable biomaterial composition for fabricating artificial tissues, each using the common myeloid progenitor cells or the macrophages.

Provided is a method for preparation of a composition comprising activated human CD8.sup.+ and natural killer (NK) lymphocytes. The method entails use of mature dendritic cells as feeder cells added at an early stage in CD4.sup.+ mediated activation of the CD8.sup.+ cells. Also provided is a method for treatment of cancer using the cells obtained from the process.

The invention relates to a method for long-term ex vivo maintenance or expansion of one or more of a human erythroblast, a human megakaryocyte-erythroid progenitor, or a human common myeloid progenitor, comprising the step of: culturing cells comprising one or more of those cells in a culture medium comprising one or more selected from a tankyrase inhibitor, a growth factor, a B-Raf kinase inhibitor and a GSK-3 inhibitor.

A method for obtaining a composition for tissue regeneration, providing M2-macrophages, co-culturing the M2-macrophages with tissue-specific cells in serum free medium; and collecting the supernatant of the co-culture. The compositions obtained by this method are suitable in medicine regenerative treatments, able to regenerate injured tissue. These products are sterile cell-free physiological aqueous solutions that show specific tissue concentration patterns to provide optimal tissue-specific regenerative effects. The compositions may be stored for long periods cryopreserved or lyophilized until its use, avoiding any subsequent blood extraction from the cell-donor, the stored growth factors and/or cytokines biologically active after long-term storage. Moreover, the compositions may be potentially applied in both autologous and allogenic treatments.

The invention relates to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) produced from source dendritic cells (DCs). The invention also relates to synthetic DCs re-differentiated the iPSCs and which display a definitive adult phenotype rather than a primitive fetal/neonatal phenotype. The invention also relates to methods for making and methods of using the iPSCs and DCs of the invention.

The present invention is drawn, in part, to biocompatible compositions comprising a biocompatible polymer matrix and conditioned cell medium comprising i) a cell culture medium and ii) one or more agents synthesized by and secreted from one or more cells cultured in the cell culture medium, as well as therapeutic uses thereof, particularly in modulating bone and/or gum tissue growth.

The present disclosure relates to compositions, nucleic acid constructs, methods and kits thereof for cell induction or reprogramming cells to the dendritic cell state or antigen presenting cell state, based, in part, on the surprisingly effect described herein of novel use and combinations of transcription factors that permit induction or reprogramming of differentiated or undifferentiated cells into dendritic cells or antigen presenting cells. Such compositions, nucleic acid constructs, methods and kits can be used for inducing dendritic cells in vitro, ex vivo, or in vivo, and these induced dendritic cells or antigen presenting cells can be used for immunotherapy applications.

A method of differentiating pluripotent stem cells into hemangioblasts comprising incubating the pluripotent stem cells in a first serum-free differentiation medium comprising bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and stem cell factor (SCF) to induce differentiation of the pluripotent stem cells into hemangioblasts or hemangioblast-containing embryoid bodies is provided. The hemangioblasts or embryoid bodies may be cultured in a second differentiation medium comprising at el least granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF) and interleukin-3 (IL-3) for a period of time sufficient to generate alveolar-like macrophages.