Fig. 3. The natural BMP antagonist noggin inhibits NK cells proliferation and cytokine and chemokine production.
In (A) MACS purified NK cells (purity ≥95%) were CFSE labelled then cultured at 2 × 105 cells/well in 96 well round bottomed plates in media supplemented with IL-2, -12 and poly I:C in the absence or presence of noggin (100 ng/ml) for 5 days. NK cells proliferation was assessed through dilution of CFSE intensity by flow cytometry. In (B) purified NK cells were cultured at 1 × 105 cells/well in 96 well round bottomed plates in media supplemented with IL-2, -12 and poly I:C with or without the indicated concentrations of noggin for 2 - 24 hours and IFN-γ levels in the NK cells supernatants were measured by ELISA. Similaraly, in (C - L) purified NK cells were cultured in IL-2 alone with or without addition of IL-12 or poly I:C or noggin (100 ng/ml) for 20 hours and the indicated cytokine’s and chemokine’s were measured by Luminex. One representative donor of three is shown in (A) while in (B - L) the data are the mean ± 1SD of three separate donors. *p<0.01 vs. IL-2, -12 and poly I:C activated NK cells without addition of noggin.