Fig. 5.

OT-2 antigenic peptides delivered by AaLS-OT-2 induce OT-2-specific CD4⁺ T cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. (A) CD11c⁺ dendritic cells (DCs) were pulsed with phosphate buffered saline (PBS), soluble ovalbumin (OVA) protein, wt AaLS, or AaLS-OT-2 at 2 mg/mL for 3 hours. The DCs were washed and then co-cultured with carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester (CFSE)-labeled OT-2 T cells at a ratio of 1:3. Four days later, the proliferation of OT-2-specific CD4⁺ T cells was measured by flow cytometry. (B) Mice were adoptively transferred with CFSE-labeled OT-2 T cells and on the next day, they were immunized subcutaneously with PBS, 100 µg of OVA protein, 50 µg of wt AaLS, AaLS-OT-2 in the presence of an adjuvant. Three days later, the proliferation of OT-2-specific CD4⁺ T cells was measured by flow cytometry.