TY - JOUR AU - Voskamp, AL AU - Prickett, SR AU - Mackay, F AU - Rolland, JM AU - O'Hehir, RE Y2 - 2020/12/22 Y1 - 2013/12/09 SN - 1932-6203 UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11343/257701 AB - The antigen-presenting abilities of basophils and their role in initiating a Th2 phenotype is a topic of current controversy. We aimed to determine whether human basophils can be induced to express MHC Class II and act as antigen presenting cells for T cell stimulation. Isolated human basophils were exposed to a panel of cytokines and TLR-ligands and assessed for MHC Class II expression. MHC Class II was expressed in up to 17% of isolated basophils following incubation with a combination of IL-3, IFN-γ and GM-CSF for 72 hours. Costimulatory molecules (CD80 and CD86) were expressed at very low levels after stimulation. Gene expression analysis of MHC Class II-positive basophils confirmed up-regulation of HLA-DR, HLA-DM, CD74 and Cathepsin S. However, MHC Class II expressing basophils were incapable of inducing antigen-specific T cell activation or proliferation. This is the first report of significant cytokine-induced MHC Class II up-regulation, at both RNA and protein level, in isolated human basophils. By testing stimulation with relevant T cell epitope peptide as well as whole antigen, the failure of MHC Class II expressing basophils to induce T cell response was shown not to be solely due to inefficient antigen uptake and/or processing. LA - English PB - PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE T1 - MHC Class II Expression in Human Basophils: Induction and Lack of Functional Significance DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0081777 IS - PLoS One VL - 8 IS - 12 L1 - /bitstream/handle/11343/257701/PMC3857240.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y ER -