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. 2011 Jul;79(7):2690–2698. doi: 10.1128/IAI.00076-11

Fig. 4.

Fig. 4.

CBMCs express higher levels of estrogen and progesterone receptors than adult PBMCs and respond to specific receptor agonists. (A) Real-time PCR analysis of ER-α, ER-β, PR, PGRMC1, mPR-α, mPR-β, and mPR-γ mRNA levels in PBMCs from adult males (AD) and CBMCs (NB) from males. Gene-specific expression was normalized to the expression of HPRT. Data (means ± SEMs; n = 5 to 6) are expressed in A.U. relative to expression of the corresponding gene in MCF-7 breast cancer cells used as a positive control. *, P < 0.05 versus adult PBMCs. (B and C) Western blot (B) and densitometric (C) analyses of ER-α and ER-β in adult PBMCs (AD) and CBMCs (NB). Data (means ± SEMs; n = 6) are expressed in A.U. relative to expression of the corresponding protein in MCF-7 cells. (D) TNF concentrations in cell culture supernatants of CBMCs incubated with estradiol, progesterone, or agonists specific for ER-α (PPT), ER-β (DPN), and PR (norgestrel) for 16 h prior to stimulation with E. coli. Data represent means ± SEMs of 6 independent experiments performed in triplicate. *, P < 0.05 versus no steroids.