FIG. 3.

OPN production by immature DCs and mature DCs treated with PAMPs. Immature DCs were stimulated with LPS (1 μg/ml), LTA (20 μg/ml), or β-d-glucan (β-d) (5 μg/ml) for 48 h to generate mature DCs or left alone as a control (Cont). Maturation of DCs was confirmed by morphology and expression of surface markers (Fig. 2c). OPN production by immature and mature DCs was measured with an EIA kit. Immature human DCs synthesized OPN, and production decreased during maturation. Production of OPN by LPS-treated mature DCs decreased to half that of immature DCs. LTA-stimulated mature DCs also produced less OPN than immature DCs. β-d-glucan-stimulated DCs showed a tendency to produce less OPN, but the difference was not statistically significant. The results shown are means ± standard errors of the means (error bars) from a single experiment using cells from a single donor and are representative of three experiments that gave similar results. Values that were significantly different (P < 0.05) from the control value (asterisk) are indicated.