Figure 7.

LL37 transports self-RNA into mDCs and activates endosomal TLR-8. (A) mDCs were stimulated for 4 h with self-RNA^Alexa488 alone or self-RNA^Alexa488–LL37 and analyzed by flow cytometry for self-RNA^Alexa488–containing mDCs. (B) Confocal microscopy of mDCs stimulated for 4 h with self-RNA^Alexa488–LL37 complexes and stained with Alexa 647–labeled anti–HLA-DR antibody to visualize the contour of the cell. Data in A and B are representative of at least five independent experiments. (C) TNF-α and IL-6 secretion by mDCs stimulated with self-RNA–LL37 complexes after pretreatment with increasing concentrations of bafilomycin. Stimulation of the mDCs with LPS was used as negative control. Data are representative of three independent experiments. (D) NF-κB promoter activity of TLR8- or TLR3-transfected HEK293 cells measured by luciferase reporter assay after stimulation at the indicated conditions. Data in D are the mean ± SEM of five independent experiments. *, P < 0.05; paired Student's t test.