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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 May 20.
Published in final edited form as: Contraception. 2014 Feb 26;90(2):123–129. doi: 10.1016/j.contraception.2014.02.006

Figure. 1. MPA but not NET or LNG suppresses cytokine production by activated mononuclear cells and pDCs.

Figure. 1

A) PBMCs obtained from healthy female volunteers were incubated for 24 hrs in the presence of vehicle (Veh; DMSO) or indicated concentrations of progestins and activated for an additional 24 hrs with microbeads coated with antibodies against CD2, CD3, and CD28 antigens. Graph represents the concentration of IFNγ in the culture media. Data are normalized values relative to vehicle control; mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM) of three donors is shown. B) Heat map representation of the effect of P4, MPA, and NET on cytokine production by mononuclear cells stimulated with microbeads coated with antibodies against CD2/CD3/CD28. Data are presented as normalized values relative to vehicle; means of three independent experiments are presented. * denotes statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) compared to P4-treated samples at respective concentrations. C) Graphic representation of the effect of P4, MPA, NET, LNG, and ETG at the indicated concentrations on intracellular production of IFNα and TNFα by pDCs stimulated with AT2-inactivated HIV-1, R848, or CpG. Normalized data from three independent donors corrected for background are presented. D) Effect of P4, MPA, and NET on the accumulation of IP-10 (CXCL10) and MCP-1 in cell culture supernatants of HIV-1-stimulated PBMCs. Data from three independent experiments are normalized to vehicle control ± SEM. P4, progesterone; MPA, medroxyprogesterone acetate; NET, norethisterone; LNG, levonorgestrel; ETG, etonogestrel. * denotes statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) of progestin-treated samples compared to the P4-treated samples.