Skip to main content
. 2015 Apr 21;145(4):485–497. doi: 10.1111/imm.12463

Figure 5.

Figure 5

Tim-3 blockade improves natural killer (NK) cell functions via enhancing signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT-5) phosphorylation. (a) CD3− CD56+ NK cells were purified from hepatitis C virus (HCV) -infected patients and healthy subjects, incubated with anti-Tim-3 or control IgG antibodies for 48 hr, followed by stimulation with interleukin-12 (IL-12) and IL-18 for 24 hr, then subjected to flow cytometric analysis of intracellular IFN-γ expression level. Representative dot plots (left) and the summary (right) percentage of IFN-γ production from four healthy subjects and five HCV patients are shown. **P < 0·01. (b) Purified NK cells from five HCV-infected individuals were treated with anti-Tim-3 or control IgG antibodies for 54 hr, then stimulated with IL-15 for 18 hr and pulsed with IL-15 for 30 min. Representative dot plots measuring p-STAT5 production are shown on the left, and the summary average percentage of p-STAT5 production are shown on the right. **P < 0·01. (c) Western blot analysis for phosphorylation of STAT-5 protein. Total STAT-5 was used as protein loading control. Densitometry data from three independent experiments using samples from nine HCV-infected subjects are shown. **P < 0·01.