Isolation of Cells from Human Intestinal Tissue

Abstract

The intestinal lamina propria contains a dense network of T cells, dendritic cells (DCs) and macrophages, which play an important role in local innate and adaptive immune responses. We have recently identified distinct subsets of DCs (Persson et al., 2013) and macrophages (Bain et al., 2013) in the human intestine. In addition, we have studied T cells in healthy and diseased intestine. Here, we describe two methods for isolating these cell populations: 1) enzymatic treatment and 2) migration based isolation. The enzymatic method can be used to isolate T cells, DC and macrophages, whereas the migration based ‘walk-out’ protocol is suitable for DC isolation, as these cells migrate out from the tissues.