Abstract
Dendritic cells (DC) are the most potent inducers and regulators of immune responses, responsible for communication within immune system. The ability of DC to act both as the inducers of immune responses and as regulatory/suppressive cells led to the interest in their immunotherapeutic use in different disease types, ranging from cancer to autoimmunity, and as a tool to prevent the rejection of transplanted tissues and organs. Over the last years, several groups including ours have demonstrated the feasibility of obtaining monocyte-derived DC with different functions, by modulating the conditions and the duration of DC maturation. The current chapter provides a detailed protocol of generating type-1-, type-2-, and type-17-polarized DC for testing the cytokine-producing abilities of these cells and their effectiveness in inducing Th1, Th2, and Th17 responses of CD4(+) T cells and CTL responses of naïve and memory CD8(+) T cells.