Fig 5. Pomalidomide counters GM-CSF-triggered CD14 and TLR downregulation and partly reverts the GM-CSF-induced effects on cytokine production.

(a-d) Treatment with pomalidomide alone did not change monocyte TLR and CD 14 but revert the GM-CSF-induced downregulation of TLR1 (a), TLR2 (b), TLR4 (c) and CD14 (d). (e and f) Cytokine staining on single cell level by flow cytometry shows that presence of GM-CSF (dark grey histograms) inhibited TNF-α cytokine production in CD14⁺ monocytes upon LPS (e) or LTA (f) stimulation. Additional administration of pomalidomide prior to GM-CSF partly reverted the GM-CSF-induced dampening of proinflammatory cytokine production after LPS or LTA challenge (open black histograms). Shaded histograms show robust TNF-α production in monocytes stimulated with LTA or LPS alone. Histograms shown are from three individually performed experiments.