Figure 4.

Elf-1 affects the thymic selection of iNKT cells. (A) Bar graphs depict the relative expression levels of Vα14Jα18 transcripts within whole thymocytes or within sorted DP thymocytes isolated from WT, Elf-1^−/−, and Ets-1^−/− mice as determined by real-time PCR. Results are representative of 3 individual experiments (**P < .01). (B) Left, dot plots exhibit the gating strategy for tetramer⁺DP^dull NKT cells. Cells were first gated based on CD4 and CD8 expression (top left), and next gated based on tetramer binding (bottom left). Right, contour plots show the proportion of CD24⁺ cells within the tetramer⁺ DP^dull population. Data shown are representative of 2 independent experiments. (C) Bar graphs depict the means ± SD for the proportions of tetramer⁺ cells within the DP^dull population (left) and of CD24⁺ cells within the tetramer⁺DP^dull population (right; n = 4 for each group; *P < .05; **P < .01).