Liposome-suicide technique

Van Rooijen N. The liposome-mediated macrophage suicide technique. J Immunol Methods 1989 124 1-6. 

More recent studies from our lab demonstrate that the capacity of lung and airway DCs to upregulate their APC functions and to acquire potent presentation capacity in response to GM-CSF in vitro, is inhibited by soluble signal(s) from the dominant local Mac population (PAMs), which include NO and TNFa (Holt et al., 1993). This mechanism also appears operative in vivo, as PAM elimination by the macrophage suicide technique , involving intratracheal administration of DMDP in liposomes, results in the rapid upregulation of the APC activity of resident lung DCs to approximate that achieved in vitro by co-culture with GM-CSF (Holt etal., 1993 Fig. 1.6). 

Though we did develop the method for our own studies on functional activities of macrophages in the spleen, it was clear that possible applications of the liposome mediated macrophage suicide technique in research would not be limited to the various subsets of macrophages in that organ (7, 8). 

Claassen I, Van Rooijen N, Claassen E (1990) A new method for removal of mononuclear phagocytes from heterogenous cell populations in vitro , using the liposome-mediated macrophage suicide technique. J Immunol Methods 134 153... 

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