Figure 1. TGF-β-associated gene expression signature in Tfh cells.
(A) Bar graph shows a selected set of genes upregulated in d8 LCMV-specific Stg PSGL1lo Ly6Clo Tfh cells relative to PSGL1hi Ly6Chi Th1 cells isolated and sorted from the spleen as measured using Illumina DNA microarrays (Marshall et al., 2011) that have been described to be induced by TGF-β or associated with Treg cells (Hill et al., 2007). (B) Representative histogram plot (top) shows amount of intracellular FoxP3 in total host splenic CD4 T cells (shaded gray) and LCMV-specific Th1 (hatched line) and Tfh (black line) Stg CD4 T cells from the spleen at day 8 p.i. Region gated identifies FoxP3+ nTregs. Bar graphs (bottom) depict the cumulative frequency (left) of FoxP3+ CD4 T cells or gMFI averages (right) of the indicated CD4 T cell populations. (C) Expression of the indicated Treg-associated proteins in (A) was compared between LCMV-specific Th1 (hatched line) and Tfh cells (black line), and FoxP3+ Treg cells gated on total host CD4 T cells (shaded gray) from the spleen at day 8 p.i. Histogram plots (top) are representative examples of individual mice and bar graphs (bottom) depict the gMFI averages of each protein in the indicated CD4 T cell populations. Graphs in B and C are representative of one of five independent experiments (n = 4–5 mice/group/experiment). *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.0005.

