Figure 3. Perinatal trans-maternal exposure to H. pylori extract skews lung T-cell responses towards specific regulatory T-cell subsets.

(A-I) Mice were trans-maternally pre- and postnatally exposed to H. pylori extract or PBS during pregnancy and lactation. At six weeks of age, lung leukocytes were analyzed by multi-color flow cytometry. (A) CD4⁺ T-cell frequencies among all leukocytes; representative FACS plots are shown on the left. (B) Th1 and Th17 frequencies among all CD4⁺ T cells, of the mice shown in A. (C) Foxp3⁺ Treg frequencies of the same mice. (D) Peripherally induced Treg (pTreg; Nrp-1⁻) frequencies among all Foxp3⁺ Tregs. (E-G) Frequencies of Cxcr3⁺, RORγT⁺ and IRF4⁺ Tregs among all CD4⁺FoxP3⁺ Tregs. (H) MHCII⁺CD11c⁺ dendritic cell (DC) frequencies among all pulmonary leukocytes. (I) Ratios of CD103⁺CD11b⁻ over CD103⁻CD11b⁺ DCs, of all mice shown in H; representative FACS plots are shown on the left. (J) Frequencies of Foxp3⁺ T-cells among all CD4⁺ OT-II T-cells, after three days of co-culture with FACS-sorted splenic MHCII⁺CD11c⁺ DCs. Data are pooled from two studies (A-F) or show the results of a representative experiment of at least two (G-J). Horizontal lines indicate medians; an unpaired Mann-Whitney U test was used throughout. * p<0.05, ** p<0.01.