Fig 7. Activated DC produces abundant IL-6, hinders the Treg suppression function and promotes Th17 generation ex vivo.
(A) DCs were isolated from mice liver on the 7th day after injection of RRV or saline and within 12 hrs of birth. DCs were added to the differentiation assay containing 3 ng/ml TGF-β, 20 ng/ml IL-6 and the other indicated cytokines, and a stimulus (vide supra). After 7 days, the percentage of Th17 was measured by FCM and the data is reported as the mean ± SEM (n = 12). * P<0.05, ** P<0.01. (B) Tregs were isolated from liver and spleen of mice on the 7th day after injection of RRV or saline within 12 hrs of birth. Different groups of Tregs were pretreated by co-culturing with DCs obtained from the liver of either RRV or saline injected mice, before adding them to the suppression assay as described above. In group F, Tregs were pretreated with supernatant from RRV-primed DC + IL-6 Ab. The production of IL-17A in the supernatant was measured by ELISA and is reported as the mean ± SEM (n = 11). * P<0.05, ** P<0.01.