Figure 5. Selective expansion of autoantigen-specific Tregs in mice expressing the autoantigen ectopically in the liver.

Conventional CD25^–CD4⁺ effector T cells (T_eff) from Tg4 mice were labeled with CFSE and activated in the absence or presence of CD25⁺CD4⁺ Tregs from CRP-MBP or nontransgenic mice at the indicated ratios. (A) Tregs of CRP-MBP and nontransgenic mice showed an equal capacity to suppress after nonspecific stimulation with antibody to CD3. (B) Tregs from CRP-MBP mice showed greatly increased efficacy to suppress after being stimulated with Ac1–9 compared with Tregs from nontransgenic mice, indicating selective expansion of MBP-specific Tregs in CRP-MBP mice. Percentages indicate the proportion of cells that did not proliferate (black peaks).