Novel MSC stem-cell culture and therapy methods and culture medium compositions for the purpose of inducing, activating, or priming discrete uniform cell phenotypes to selectively promote or suppress inflammation and immunity, yielding polarized, primed, activated, or induced cells used in cell-based therapy.

A method of treating a disease or disorder that can benefit from increasing an M2/M1 macrophage ratio in a subject in need thereof is provided. The method comprising: (a) culturing basophils in the presence of IL33 and/or GM-SCF; and (b) administering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of the basophils following the culturing, thereby treating the disease or disorder that can benefit from increasing an M2/M1 macrophage ratio in the subject.

The present invention is based, in part, on the identification of compositions and methods for modulating monocyte and macrophage inflammatory phenotypes and immunotherapy uses thereof.

The invention is in the field of medical sciences. It provides means and methods for the treatment of cancer. More in particular, it provides cells and cell lines that can be developed into fully functional dendritic cells. These cells endogenously express cancer-specific antigens, which makes them particularly suited for the treatment of different kinds of cancer. More in particular, the invention relates to a precursor cell line for dendritic cells called DC-One as deposited at the DSMZ under accession number DSMZ ACC3189 on Nov. 15, 2012.

Described herein is a method of treating a disorder, the method comprising: administering to a subject in need thereof a composition that contains a population of somatic stem cells that are 0.3-6.0 micrometers in size and CD9+, CD349+, CD133−, CD90−, CD34−, SSEA1+, SSEA4+, CD13+, or Stro1+, wherein the disorder is hair loss, osteoporosis, or a damaged tissue.

In one aspect, a method of treating a subject having or at risk of having graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) generally includes administering to the subject a plurality of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) effective to ameliorate at least one symptom or clinical sign of graft-versus-host disease compared to a suitable control subject. In another aspect, a method of treating a tumor in a subject generally includes administering to the subject an anti-tumor therapy and co-administering to the subject an inflammasome inciting agent in an amount effective to increase inflammasome activation of MDSCs sufficiently to reduce suppressor function of the MDSCs.

The present invention relates to stem-cell derived hematopoietic cells, in particular, myeloid cells, preferably, macrophages, their generation and use. In particular, the invention relates to a method of producing hematopoietic, preferably, myeloid cells, comprising cultivating embryoid bodies, which are, e.g., derivable from pluripotent stem cells such as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), in suspension culture, to produce myeloid cell forming complexes, which are further cultivated in suspension culture to produce myeloid cells such as macrophages. This allows for a scalable and continuous production, e.g., in industry-compatible stirred tank bioreactors. Macrophages, e.g., macrophages produced with this method that have unique characteristics, can be used in pharmaceutical compositions for treatment of patients, e.g., for treatment of infection such as bacterial infection. The invention further provides application systems suitable for spraying, comprising myeloid cells such as macrophages, which can have a reduced size, for use in treatment of patients for treatment of infection, e.g., bacterial infection or wound healing.

Provided herein are methods of generating T cells, e.g., cytotoxic T lymphocytes starting from peripheral blood mononuclear cells without a separate step of generating and isolating antigen-presenting cells, and with a single round of antigen stimulation. Also provided herein are methods of using said cytotoxic T lymphocytes, for example, to treat cancer and/or viral infection.

Disclosed herein is a different and novel approach to cancer vaccines using a subject's own dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages (Mphs) in combination to present cancer antigens to the immune system. Further disclosed are methods of producing monocyte-derived autologous DCs and Mphs loaded ex vivo with particular whole irradiated cancer cells which generates optimally activated immunostimulatory antigen-presenting cells (APCs) as a superior method for stimulating robust and long-lasting immunity to a particular cancer in vivo as compared with more traditional vaccination methods. Compositions, methods of use and methods for preparation of these DCs and Mphs with cancer cells are also disclosed herein.

The present invention it was determined that dendritic cells could be derived from various sources including peripheral blood monocytes in the presence of only GM-CSF without other cytokines if the monocytes were not activated. By preventing activation, such as by preventing binding of the cells to the surface of the culture vessel, the monocytes do not require the presence of additional cytokines, such as IL-4 or IL-13, to prevent differentiation into a non-dendritic cell lineage. The immature DCs generated and maintained in this manner were CD14.sup.− and expressed high levels of CD1a. Upon maturation by contact with an agent such as, for example, BCG and IFNγ, the cells were determined to express surface molecules typical of mature dendritic cells purified by prior methods and cultured in the presence of GM-CSF and IL-4. The mature dendritic cells produced from monocytes without activation and cultured in GM-CSF alone are suitable for use in dendritic cell-based immunotherapy methods, such as for use in the treatment of disease, including cancer.