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A potent interferon inducer, synthetic polynucleotide complex (poly I:C), was used prophylactically and therapeutically in experimental vaccinial keratoconjunctivitis of rabbits. When topical treatment was begun either 24 hours prior to or one hour after inoculation with vaccinia virus, the poly I:C was highly effective in preventing vaccinial keratoconjunctivitis. When topical treatment was not begun until 24 hours after inoculation, however, its therapeutic efficacy was greatly reduced. Also ineffective was a combined topical and intravenous treatment. The suppressive effect of poly I:C on vaccinial corneal lesions correlated well with the concentration of the virus in the corneal tissue.

Background For clinical applications, dendritic cells (DCs) need to be generated using GMP-approved reagents. In this study, we tested the characteristics of DCs generated in two clinical grade culture media and activated by three maturation stimuli, Poly I: C, LPS and the mixture of proinflammatory cytokines in order to identify the optimal combination of culture media and activation stimulus for the clinical use. Method We tested DCs generation using two GMP-certified culture media, CellGro and RPMI+5% human AB serum and evaluated DCs morphology, viability and capapability to mature. We tested three maturation stimuli, PolyI:C, LPS and the mixture of proinflammatory cytokines consisting of IL-1, IL-6, TNF and prostaglandin E2. We evaluated the capacity of activated DCs to induce antigen-specific T cells and regulatory T lymphocytes. Results Cell culture in CellGro resulted in a higher yield of immature DCs resulting from increased number of adherent monocytes. DCs that were generated in CellGro and activated using Poly I:C were the most efficient in expanding antigen-specific T cells compared to the DCs that were generated in other media and activated using LPS or the cocktail of proinflammatory cytokines. A comparison of all tested combinations revealed that DCs that were generated in CellGro and activated using Poly I:C induced low numbers of regulatory T cells. Conclusion In this study, we identified monocyte-derived DCs that were generated in CellGro and activated using Poly I:C as the most potent clinical-grade DCs for the induction of antigen-specific T cells.