The differentiation of new human CD303+ Plasmacytoid dendritic cell subpopulations expressing CD205 and/or CD103 regulated by Non-Small-Cell lung cancer cells

•The phenotype of human CD303+ pDC subsets is investigated in this paper. Four new subpopulations of CD303 pDCs expressing CD205 and/or CD103 are found in human peripheral blood.•Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) modulates the differentiation of CD303+ pDC subsets expressing CD103 and CD205 in vitro and ex vivo.•Co-culture with primary NSCLC cells or NSCLC cell line (H1299) in vitro leads to abnormal expression of co-stimulatory molecules/MHC II (CD40, CD80, CD86 and HLA-DR) and production of pro-/anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, IL-23, IL-27 and TGF-β) by CD303+ pDCs.•Our data indicated that NSCLC cells generate immune tolerogenic CD303+ pDC subsets in vitro. This may be one part of immune suppressive microenvironment induced by NSCLC in vivo.