Figure 2.
Dry eye disease promotes loss of Foxp3 expression by Tregs following corneal transplantation. Foxp3-GFP-CreXR26-RFP transgenic mice were used to trace Foxp3 expression after transplantation. Healthy corneal grafts were transplanted onto transgenic naïve control hosts or dry eye (DED) hosts. Draining lymph nodes were harvested 2 weeks post-transplantation. Single cell suspensions were analyzed by flow cytometry. (A) Representative flow cytometry plots and (B) statistical analysis of flow cytometry data showing frequencies of exFoxp3 cells in Foxp3-GFPXR26-RFP control and DED hosts (n = 6/group, ***p < 0.001). (C) Representative flow cytometry plots and (D, E) statistical analyses of flow cytometry data showing frequencies of exFoxp3 cells that express IFNγ (***p < 0.001) and IL-17 (**p < 0.01) in Foxp3-GFPXR26-RFP control and DED hosts (n = 6/group). Data is presented as mean ± SEM (error bar).