Figure 7.

Comparison of the effect of combined administration of IL-10 gene plasmid and IL-12 gene plasmid to the individual treatment groups on AHR and airway eosinophilic inflammation in OVA-sensitized mice. Mice were sensitized and boosted as described in Fig. 1. On day 27 and 28, some mice received intra-tracheal injection of IL-10 gene plasmid (pIL-10), single-chain IL-12 gene plasmid (pscIL-12), or pIL-10 plus pscIL-12 DNA liposome complex. Then, mice were challenged with 100 μg OVA by intranasal administration on day 29, and 30. On day 31, mice were analyzed. (A) AHR to Mch was measured as described in Material and Methods (n = 5–7 per group). The columns and error bars represent mean ± SEM for each group. * P < 0.05, ** P <0.01 compared with the value of positive controlgroup. (B) Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was collected two days after the last OVA challenge of each group of mice (n = 5–7). The cell compositions in BALF were analyzed. The columns and error bars represent mean ± SEM for each group. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01 as compared with the positive control group