Figure 5.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) patient serum decreased the immunosuppressive potential of MSCs. Percentage of T lymphocyte proliferation when cultured alone (Ctrl; normalized to 100%) or with different ratios of MSCs (1/50; 1/10; 1/5 MSC/T lymphocyte ratios) that were precultured for 3 days with human serum AB (SAB) or oxidized SAB (SAB₄₀₀, SAB₁₀₀₀, and SAB_H2O2; n = 3 for each condition) or SSc patient serum. Sera from patient (PS) were divided in two groups depending on AOPP levels: <400 μmol/L (PS_<400; n = 6) or >400 μmol/L (PS_>400; n = 6) or pooled in a single group (PS_pool; n = 12). T lymphocyte proliferation was measured with Cell Proliferation ELISA, BrdU assay (Sigma-Aldrich). Results were expressed as the percentage of proliferation ± SEM. *p < 0.05 versus SAB at same time point.