Figure 4. Ectopic IL-35 induces a qualitatively distinct pool of islet conventional T cells.

(A, B) Groups of 3–4 NOD or NOD.BDC.Foxp3^GFP female mice 12 weeks of age were treated with AAV8mIP-IL35 or left untreated, and spleen and pancreas examined 4 weeks later. (A) Live CD3⁺ cells were gated on and pancreatic CD4⁺FoxP3⁻ and CD8⁺ T cells assessed for intracellular IFN-γ. Data shown as average ± SEM of 2 separate experiments with a total of 6 mice per cohort. **p<0.01 (two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post-test). (B) Four 10 week-old NOD.BDC.Foxp3^GFP female mice were treated with 10×10¹⁰ vp of AAV8mIP-IL35 or left untreated and pancreases pooled 4 weeks later. Thy1.2⁺CD3⁺GFP⁻ cells were sorted, and mRNA levels of Ebi3, IL-12α, IFN-γ, TGFβ, and IL-10 compared. Data are the average ± SEM of 2 separate experiments. *p<0.05 (Student’s t test).