Dendritic cells, possibly under the control of the cytokine granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor, (hereinafter GM-CSF), can undergo a maturation process that does not entail cell proliferation (2,3).
The dendritic cells process and present antigens most likely on abundant, newly synthesized MHC class II molecules, and then strong accessory and cell-cell adhesion functions are acquired (4-7).