Figure 1. CD4⁺ and CD4⁻ cDC are equivalent in their ability to activate CD4⁺ T lymphocytes.

(A) Splenic CD4⁺ and CD4⁻ cDC were sorted on the basis of CD11c, CD11b, CD8 and CD4 expression. The presence of contaminating plasmacytoid DC and CD8α⁺ cDC precursors in the CD4⁻ cDC fraction was evaluated by using anti-Siglec-H and Sirp-α mAbs, respectively. (B, C) Both cDC subsets were sensitized with graded doses of OVA peptide (B) or whole OVA (C) and co-cultured for 3 and 5 days with naive CD4⁺ T cells purified from OT-II mice. The production of IFN-γ and IL-13 was quantified by ELISA. Results represent the mean ± SD of a representative experiment out of two.