Figure 5.

Thymic epithelial cell (TEC)-derived proteolipid protein (PLP) and autoimmune regulator (Aire) are crucial for central tolerance to epitope #1. (A) Relative abundance of PLP mRNA in different subsets of TECs, thymic dendritic cells (DCs), and CD4 single-positive (SP) cells. Values are indicated as arbitrary units (AU) normalized to expression in DCs. Data are representative of two independent experiments with pooled cells from ≥3 mice. (B) CD4 versus CD8 staining of thymus cells from TCR-PLP1 transgenic mice on Plp^KO, Plp^WT, or Plp^ΔTEC background. (C) Average frequency ± SEM of CD4SP cells (left), TCR-PLP1⁺ cells (Vα3.2⁺Vβ6⁺) among gated CD4SP thymocytes (middle) and CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ cells among gated TCR-PLP1⁺ CD4SP cells (right) in TCR-PLP1 mice on Plp^KO, Plp^WT, or Plp^ΔTEC background (n = 4 each). (D) Average frequency ± SEM of CD4SP cells (left), TCR-PLP1⁺ cells (Vα3.2⁺Vβ6⁺) among gated CD4SP thymocytes (middle), and CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ cells among gated TCR-PLP1⁺ CD4SP cells (right) in TCR-PLP1 mice on Plp^KO (n = 3), Plp^WT (n = 3), or Plp^WT Aire^–/– (n = 6) background.