FIG. 6.

Reduced ability of CD40L to rescue monocytes from apoptosis during sepsis. PBMC from septic patients (n = 13) were obtained at day 7. The percentage of hypodiploid DNA was quantified by flow cytometry following staining of the cells with propidium iodide. No statistically significant differences were found between results for patients and controls in unstimulated samples, cells stimulated by anti-CD3 alone, cells stimulated by anti-CD3 and anti-CD28, or cells stimulated by anti-CD3 and GM-CSF. An asterisk indicates that the percentage of hypodiploid DNA was significantly lower (P < 0.05) for patients than for controls in cells stimulated by anti-CD3 and CD40L. The data represent the means ± standard deviations (error bars).