Aryl hydrocarbon receptor knockout and antibody blockade of programmed cell death ligand1 increase co-stimulatory molecules on THP-1 and specific cytokine response of human T cells

Skin sensitisation involves activation of dendritic cells which activate T cells and induce their clonal expansion. While the first step is covered by OECD-validated new approach methodologies, the latter is not until now. This may be due to a weak dendritic cell activation in vitro that is not strong enough to mediate activation of T cells. Here, we suppressed two inhibitory pathways to overcome this problem. We blocked the Programmed Cell Death (PD) pathway with anti-PD-L1 antibody and knocked out aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) in THP-1 cells by CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Thereby, we reduced AhR+ cells to 33% and PD-L1+ THP-1 to 5% of the population. In presence of keratinocytes, CD86 and CD54 were elevated on AhR-knockout cells. In coculture with Jurkat T cells, AhR knockout inhibited MIP-1β but induced TNF-α on protein level. In combination with PD-L1 blockade, AhR knockout induced IL-8. In contrast to induction of T cell differentiation evidenced by cytokine release, CD3 and Ki-67 staining revealed no induction of T cell proliferation. In conclusion, a proof-of-principle has been delivered for the usefulness of AhR knockout and PD-L1 blockade in dendritic cells to enlarge the response range of cells in a sensitisation assay for regulatory use. •Aryl hydrocarbon receptor knockout increases marker expression on dendritic cells.•Knockout also broadens response range of cocultivated T cells.•Antibody blockage of Programmed Death Ligand diversifies effects of knockout.•Proof-of-principle for enhanced in vitro T cell activation.•First proposal to use knockout and blockage in skin sensitisation assays.