Patent ID: 8247227

Claim:
A method of generating a population of dendritic cell (DC) precursors, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining bone marrow from the subject, the bone marrow including CD34 pos progenitor cells from a subject; culturing the progenitor cells in a culture medium including Flt3 ligand (Flt3-L), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and a STAT5 antagonist, and being free of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GMCSF), the progenitor cells being cultured for a time and under conditions effective to allow the progenitor cells to differentiate into DC precursors having a surface marker phenotype B220 pos CD11c neg /MHC Class II neg ; and selecting the B220 pos /CD11c neg /MHC Class II neg DC precursors from the culture.