Figure 7.

Profile of circulating NK cell subsets. (A) Profile of NK cell counts in mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC)-treated patients (n = 4), and kidney transplant patients undergoing induction therapy with bas/low dose rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin (RATG) (n = 6) or with low-dose RATG alone (n = 5) from 1 to 5 years posttransplant. Data are mean ± SEM. P = NS. (B) Gating strategy for identification of natural killer cell subsets and natural killer T cells. In the CD45⁺ live singlet cells, the population of CD3⁻ lymphocytes was gated on the morphology based on SSC and plotted for CD16 and CD56 expression. CD16⁺CD56^dim cells positive for CD11b expression and negative for CD27 were identified as cytotoxic NK cells. The CD56^bright CD16^−/+ NK cells were divided into CD27⁺ and CD27⁻ subpopulations. NKT cells were defined as CD3⁺CD56⁺ cells. The frequency (% on the gated CD3⁻ population) of CD56^dim NK cells, CD56^bright NK cells negative or positive for CD27 expression, and of NKT cells (% on CD3⁺ cells) in patients given MSC infusion and in kidney transplant patients undergoing induction therapy with bas/low dose RATG or with low-dose RATG alone from 1 to 5 years posttransplant are reported in panels (C–F), respectively. Data are mean ± SEM, *P < 0.05 vs MSC-treated patients and control patients given low-dose RATG at the same time point.