Figure 1.

T cell proliferation following stimulation with pDCs alone or pDCs + apoPMNs in the MLR systems. (a) In the autologous MLR system: pDCs from healthy donors (n = 36) did not induce T cell proliferation, regardless of loading with apoptotic PMNs or not. The same phenomenon was also found in SLE patients (n = 30; 12 with active disease and 18 with inactive disease), irrespective of disease activity status. (b) In the allogenous MLR system: In healthy donors (n = 36), only pDCs + apoPMNs induced allogenous T cell proliferation. With SLE pDCs, both pDCs alone and pDCs + apoPMNs induced allogenous T cell proliferation, suggesting a higher ability of SLE pDCs to stimulate allogenous T cells. Values are expressed in Median (interquartile range, range). auto-T: autologous T cells, allo-T: allogenous T cells, pDCs + apoPMNs: pDCs that had been loaded with apoptotic polymorphonuclear cells. HD, healthy donors; aSLE, active SLE; iSLE, inactive SLE