Patent ID: 7109031

Claim:
A method for inducing differentiation of monocytes contained in an extracorporeal quantity of a mammal's blood into functional dendritic cells, said method comprising the steps of: (a) treating the extracorporeal quantity of blood to obtain a leukocyte concentrate containing monocytes; (b) treating the leukocyte concentrate to reduce the quantity of plasma and serum proteins in the leukocyte concentrate; (c) treating the leukocyte concentrate to induce differentiation of the monocytes contained in the leukocyte concentrate into functional dendritic cells by pumping the leukocyte concentrate through a treatment apparatus having at least one plastic channel at a suitable flow rate to apply a shearing force to monocytes adhering to the walls of the at least one plastic channel; and (d) incubating the treated leukocyte concentrate for a sufficient period of time to allow the monocytes contained in the treated leukocyte concentrate to differentiate into functional dendritic cells.