Figure 4.

Immune suppressive function of T_regs during AP. AP was induced by partial duct ligation in DEREG- and C57Bl/6 mice. (A) The number of splenic GFP producing T_regs was increased in the AP group (n=5) but not in control or sham operated mice (n=3). (B) The same increase of FOXP3⁺/CD25⁺/CD4⁺ T_regs was observed in the small intestine. (n=5). (C) Suppression assays showed that T_regs from AP mice (red line) have an increased suppressive capacity on T_eff cell proliferation. (D) Heat map illustrates fold changes of gene transcription in T_regs from AP mice (n=4) compared with untreated controls (n=4). Statistically significant differences were tested by unpaired Student’s t-test for independent samples and significance levels of p<0.05 are marked by an asterisk, corrected for multiple testing (bonferroni-correction). AP, acute pancreatitis.