Figure 1.
Viable P. gingivalis suppresses il-2 and cxcl8 gene expression and prevents protein accumulation. Jurkat T cells, at a cell density of 106 cells/ml, were treated with 108 CFU/ml of viable or heat-killed P. gingivalis (MOI: 100) for 1 h prior to stimulation with 50 ng/ml PMA and 1 µg/ml calcium ionophore for 24 h. IL-2 (a) and CXCL8 (b) accumulated levels were determined in cell-culture supernatants by ELISA. Relative gene expression levels of IL-2 (c) and CXCL8 (d) were analyzed by RT-qPCR and presented in box plots showing the median, 25th and 75th percentiles in boxes and the 10th and 90th percentiles as whiskers. Viable P. gingivalis treatment caused a significant inhibition of inflammatory gene expression and protein accumulation. Dotted lines (c, d) indicate basal control levels that were arbitrarily set to 1. Results are presented from at least five independent experiments. Statistically significant differences were determined by one-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni's multiple comparison test (#/*P<0.05; ##/**P<0.01; ###/***P<0.001, #: significance from the negative control; *: significance from the positive control PMA/Iono). ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; MOI, multiplicity of infection; RT-qPCR, reverse transcription quantitative PCR.