the group is interested in using large animals for cellular therapies. Dendritic cells (DCs) are professional antigen presenting cells that play a crucial role in both initiation and modulation of the immune response. Due to their physiological properties and the availability of clinical grade reagents, immunostimulatory DCs have been safely and successfully used in clinical trials designed to stimulate immune responses against tumours and pathogens. Our work aims to address fundamental questions in DC therapies by using immunologically relevant animal models, more informative than mice. Domestic pigs share many similarities with humans and represent an excellent animal model for immunological studies. We have previously set up a model in pigs for DC tracking in vivo using magnetic resonance imaging that we will use in these experiments.
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