FIG 2.

Lung B cells efficiently capture HDM antigens independently of their BCR specificity. A and B, BALB/c mice were sensitized intranasally with HDM on days 0, 11, and 12 and received AF647-labeled HDM on day 13. Percentages of HDM-AF647⁺ B cells, DCs, and CD4⁺ T cells in the lungs were measured on day 14. Representative fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) plots (Fig 2, A) and cumulative percentages and total cell numbers (mean ± SEM) from 5 mice (Fig 2, B) are shown. C and D, C57BL/6 or BCR-transgenic MD4 mice (on C57BL/6 background) were treated intranasally with HDM or HDM-AF647 on day 0 and were analyzed 1 day later. Representative FACS plots (Fig 2, C) and percentages and geometric mean fluorescence intensity (GMFI; mean ± SEM) of lung HDM-AF647⁺ B cells from 4 mice per group (Fig 2, D) are shown. E and F, BALB/c mice were treated intranasally with OVA-AF647 on day 0 and analyzed 1 day later. Representative FACS plots (Fig 2, E) and percentages and total numbers of OVA-AF647⁺ cells (mean ± SEM) in lungs from 4 animals (Fig 2, F) are shown. G, BALB/c mice were treated intranasally with HDM-AF488 or OVA-AF647 plus unlabeled HDM and analyzed 1 day later. Shown is the percentage of fluorescence-positive cells (mean ± SEM) in lungs from 3 (HDM) and 4 (OVA+HDM) animals. Data are representative of at least 2 independent experiments. **P < .01 and ***P < .001.