Cilostazol inhibits plasmacytoid dendritic cell activation and antigen presentation

Background Cilostazol, an anti-platelet drug for treating coronary heart disease, has been reported to modulate immune cell functions. Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) have been found to participate in the progression of atherosclerosis mainly through interferon a (IFN-alpha) production. Whether cilostazol influences pDCs activation is still not clear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of cilostazol on cell activation and antigen presentation of pDCs in vitro in this study. Methods Peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated by Ficoll centrifugation and pDCs sorted by flow cytometry were used in this study. After pretreated with cilostazol for 2 h, cells were stimulated with CpG-A, R848 or virus for 6 h or 20 h, or stimulated with CpG-B for 48 h and then co-cultured with naive T cell for five days. Cytokines in supernatant and intracellular cytokines were analyzed by ELISA or flow cytometry respectively. Results Our data indicated that cilostazol could inhibit IFN-alpha and tumor necrosis factor a (TNF-alpha) production from pDCs in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, the ability of priming naive T cells of pDCs was also impaired by cilostazol. The inhibitory effect was not due to cell killing since the viability of pDCs did not change upon cilostazol treatment. Conclusion Cilostazol inhibits pDCs cell activation and antigen presentation in vitro, which may explain how cilostazol protects against atherosclerosis.