Figure 7.

Migratory CD103⁺ DCs constitutive produce IL-12 independently from TLR or microbial signals. (A) Naive WT BALB/c mice were treated with a cocktail of antibiotics (Abx) for 3 wk and mLN cells were cultured ex vivo for 6 h in the presence of Brefeldin A. Migratory CD103⁺ DCs were analyzed for expression of IL-12p40 protein by intracellular cytokine staining. (B) Yet40 IL-12p40 reporter mice were infected for 12 d with H. polygyrus after pretreatment with antibiotics as in A, and YFP expression by migratory CD103⁺ DCs in mLNs was determined. (C) Migratory CD103⁺ DCs from naive WT C57BL/6 mice maintained under SPF or GF conditions were analyzed as in A. (D) Migratory CD103⁺ DCs from naive WT or Trif/Myd88^−/− C57BL/6 mice were analyzed as in A. (E) Lethally irradiated C57BL/6 recipient mice received either a 1:1 mixture of WT with Batf3^−/− BM or Trif/Myd88^−/− with Batf3^−/− BM. Chimeric mice were infected for 12 d with H. polygyrus, and migratory CD103⁺ DCs in mLNs were analyzed for expression of IL-12p40 protein by intracellular cytokine staining as in A. (A–E) Data are concatenated plots or shown as bar graphs with mean ± SEM from three to four mice per group. One of two experiments is shown (A–D), or the experiment was performed once (E). **, P < 0.01.