Mammalian alveolar macrophages derived from pluripotent cells

1. A population of isolated mammalian alveolar macrophages, wherein said alveolar macrophages:

i) express CD11c;

ii) do not express Myb;

iii) are capable of being cultured for at least a year at a doubling rate of about 2 days; and

iv) are derived from pluripotent stem cells.

2. The population of isolated mammalian alveolar macrophages as defined in claim 1 , wherein said alveolar macrophages exhibit at least 50% greater expression of CD11b as compared to primary alveolar macrophages.

3. The population of isolated mammalian alveolar macrophages as defined in claim 1 , wherein said alveolar macrophages are capable of being cultured indefinitely.

4. The population of isolated mammalian alveolar macrophages as defined in claim 1 , wherein said alveolar macrophages exhibit at least about 10% greater phagocytic activity as compared to primary alveolar macrophages.

5. The population of isolated mammalian alveolar macrophages as defined in claim 1 , wherein said alveolar macrophages exhibit at least a 2-fold increase in expression of LSR or RUNx2 as compared to primary alveolar macrophages.

6. The population of isolated mammalian alveolar macrophages as defined in claim 1 , wherein said alveolar macrophages comprise a vector encoding a protein.

7. The population of isolated mammalian alveolar macrophages as defined in claim 6 , wherein the protein is an anti-inflammatory agent or an antimicrobial agent.

8. The population of isolated mammalian alveolar macrophages as defined in claim 6 , wherein the protein is IL-10.

9. The population of isolated mammalian alveolar macrophages as defined in claim 1 , wherein said alveolar macrophages express interferon-gamma, interleukin-1α and TNF-alpha.

10. The population of isolated mammalian alveolar macrophages as defined in claim 1 , wherein said alveolar macrophages express CD80, CD86, CD206, SIRPα and PU.1.

11. The population of isolated mammalian alveolar macrophages as defined in claim 1 generated by a method comprising the steps of:

i) culturing hemangioblasts in medium comprising vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), stem cell factor (SCF), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-3 (IL-3) for a sufficient period of time to generate macrophages, and

ii) culturing the macrophages in an alveolar macrophage-inducing medium comprising granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF), IL-3 and SCF, under suitable conditions and for a sufficient period of time to yield the isolated population of mammalian alveolar macrophages.

12. The population of isolated mammalian alveolar macrophages as defined in claim 11 , wherein the amount of each of GM-CSF and M-CSF in the alveolar macrophage-inducing medium is about 10-100 ng/ml.

13. The population of isolated mammalian alveolar macrophages as defined in claim 11 , wherein the medium of step i) comprises VEGF in an amount ranging from about 5-50 ng/ml; an amount of IL-3 in the range of about 10-100 ng/ml; and SCF in an amount ranging from about 10-100 ng/ml.

14. The population of isolated mammalian alveolar macrophages as defined in claim 11 , wherein said alveolar macrophages

i) express a) F4/80, b) SiglecF and CD11c; or c) CD68 and CD11c, and

ii) are capable of AcLDL uptake.

15. The population of isolated mammalian alveolar macrophages as defined in claim 11 , wherein the medium of step i) additionally comprises one or more of thrombopoietin (TPO), Fms-related tyrosine kinase 3 ligand (FLT3L) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-IL-1).

16. The population of isolated mammalian alveolar macrophages as defined in claim 11 , wherein said method further comprises the step of expanding said alveolar macrophages in medium containing about 10-50 ng/ml GM-CSF and about 10-50 M-CSF.