Fig. 2.

Isolation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (DC) and the effect of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) with or without an immunostimulatory sequence (ISS) on asthma induction. (A) Schematic illustration of the experimental protocol. Myeloid dendritic cells (mDC) or pDC (106) with or without ISS stimulation were administered intratracheally to Balb/c mice after ovalbumin (OVA)/alum sensitization. Five mice were used in each group and this experiment was performed in duplicate. (B) Characterization of pDC subsets after isolation using anti-CD11c and anti-B220 MACS antibodies. Isolated cells exhibited 94.4% purity. (C, D) Airway hyperresponsiveness curve showing that pDC with or without OVA pulsing did not induce airway hyperresponsiveness compared to mDC without OVA (P>0.05). mDC pulsed with OVA increased airway hyperresponsiveness, eosinophil counts, and IL-4 and IL-5 levels in BAL, the effect of which was abolished by administration of mDC pulsed with ISS and OVA.