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. 2011 May 26;6(5):e19664. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0019664

Figure 6. Tim-3 blockade significantly improves IL-12 production and reduces PD-1 expression on CD14+ M/MØ.

Figure 6

A) Purified M/MØ was incubated with Huh-7 cells in a ratio of 10∶1 at 48 h after HCV or mock transfection. Anti-Tim-3 or control IgG was added into the co-culture system at the same time and incubated overnight, followed by stimulation with LPS/R848 for another 18 h. IL-12 expression in CD14+ M/MØ was detected by flow cytometry. B) Representative flow cytometric dot plots from one healthy subject and one HCV-infected individual showing the effect of Tim-3 blocking on PD-1 and IL-12 expressions in CD14+ M/MØ. Gating strategy for identifying CD14+ M/MØ subsets is the same as in Fig. 4A. C) PBMC from healthy subjects (n = 6) and chronically HCV-infected individuals (n = 6) were pre-incubated with anti-Tim-3 or control IgG antibodies 48 h, followed by stimulation with LPS/R848 for 18 h. PD-1 and IL-12 expressions were detected by flow cytometry. The percentages of PD-1+ CD14+ M/MØ or IL-12+ CD14+ M/MØ of healthy subjects as well as chronically HCV-infected individuals are shown. The p value (*<0.05, **<0.01) was denoted above the group of study subjects.