Functional role of dendritic cells in patients with unstable angina.

To investigate the function of dendritic cells (DC) in patients with unstable angina, 10 mL of blood was drawn from 30 subjects. 15 patients diagnosed as having unstable angina and 15 healthy subjects were included in an observation and a control groups respectively. The mononuclear cells were separated from the peripheral blood and cultured in RPM11640 supplemented with recombinant human granulocyte/macrophage-colony stimulating factor (rh GM-CSF) and recombinant human interleukin-4 (rh IL-4) to induce dendritic cells. The shape and ultrastructure of DC was examined with electronic microscope. The phenotype of DC was analyzed with FACS and the alloantigen presenting capacity of DC was evaluated by mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR). The expression rate of CD86 of DC in patients with unstable angina was (40.7 +/- 3.6) %, which was obviously higher than that of normal DC (29.6 +/- 2.5%) ( P < 0.001). The capacity of the DCs in unstable angina patients to induce allogenic T cells (OD 2.73 +/- 1.10), was significantly higher than that of the normal DC (OD:0.9 +/- 0.21) (P < 0.005). It is suggested that the function of DC in patients with unstable angina is increased, which may play an important role in the initiation of immune reaction in the plaque.