Figure 8. Treating CS-exposed WT and/or Cc16^–/– mice with rhCC16 increases T cell regulatory and/or B regulatory subset counts in their lungs.

WT and Cc16^–/– mice were exposed to air (5 mice/group) or CS for 8 weeks (14–15 mice/group), and CS-exposed mice were treated with rhCC16 (75 μg of rhCC16; 7 mice/group) or vehicle (7–8 mice-group) thrice weekly for the last 4 weeks of the exposures. Lymphocyte subsets were quantified in enzymatic lung digests using flow cytometry after immunostaining the cells for: CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ Tregs (gating on CD4⁺ lymphocytes) in A, TIGIT⁺ Tregs (gating on CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ lymphocytes) in B, and Tim-1⁺ Bregs (gating on CD19⁺ cells) in C. The horizontal bars in the dot plots represent the mean values. Data were analyzed using 1-way ANOVAs followed by pairwise testing with Mann-Whitney U tests. Asterisks indicate P < 0.05 vs. air-exposed mice belonging to the same genotype or the group indicated.