Dopamine receptor agonist cabergoline promotes immunogenic phenotype in human monocyte‐derived dendritic cells

Abstract

AbstractDendritic cells (DCs) are known as antigen‐presenting cells that are capable of regulating immune responses. DCs and T cells can interact mutually to induce antigen‐specific T‐cell responses. Cabergoline, which is a dopamine (DA) receptor agonist, seems to implement anti‐inflammatory properties in the immune system, and therefore in the present study the impact of a DA receptor agonist cabergoline on the monocyte‐derived DCs (moDCs) was assessed. Immature moDCs were treated with lipopolysaccharide to produce mature DCs (mDCs). The expression of DCs' related surface markers namely: CD11c, HLA‐DR, and CD86 was measured by utilizing of flow cytometry. Real‐time PCR was the technique of choice to determine the levels at which diverse inflammatory and anti‐inflammatory factors in cabergoline‐treated and control mDC groups were expressed. DCs treated with cabergoline displayed a significant decrease in CD86 and HLA‐DR expression, markers linked to maturation and antigen presentation, respectively. In addition, the cabergoline‐mDC group showed a considerable decline in terms of the levels at which IL‐10, TGF‐β, and IDO genes were expressed, and an increase in the expression of TNF‐α and IL‐12 in comparison to the mDC control group. Our findings revealed that cabergoline as an immunomodulatory agent can relatively shift DCs into an immunogenic state, and there is a requirement for further investigations to evaluate the effects of cabergoline‐treated DCs on the T cell responses in vitro, and also in various diseases including cancer in animal models.