Figure 1. Attenuation of CD4⁺CD25⁺ T cells increases survival of hapten-presenting DC in skin-draining lymph nodes.

(A) Mice were sensitized with 0.5% FITC on day 0 and were given i. p. injections of 250 μg of anti-CD25 mAb or control rat IgG on days −1, 0 and +1. On day +3 (72 h) post-sensitization LNC suspensions were stained with PE-labeled anti-CD11c mAb (total DC) or were permeabilized and stained with AlexaFluor647-labeled anti-CD207/Langerin (Langerhans cells) mAb or with isotype control Ab. CD11c-positive or CD207-positive cells were gated and analyzed for FITC expression. LNC suspensions from naïve mice were used to distinguish FITC⁺ cells (right and left upper panels, gates R2 and R5) from FITC-negative cells (right and left upper panels, gates R3 and R4). The experiments were repeated three times with similar results.

(B) Total numbers of CD11c⁺FITC⁺ or CD207⁺FITC⁺ cells in the skin-draining lymph nodes of each individual mouse were calculated based on the percentage of these cells in each analyzed cell aliquot. Six mice were analyzed per each group in two independent experiments with similar results each time, *P < 0.05 by two-tailed Students’ t test.