Figure 5.
Interferon response in human PBMC. Isolation of PBMC from freshly collected blood samples is schematically shown in the left panel. RNA cubes, rings and fibers functionalized with siRNA (schematically shown in the middle panel) were tested for the ability to induce type I (IFNα, IFNβ, and IFNω) and type III (IFNλ) interferons. PBMCs from three healthy donors were used. All RNA assemblies were complexed with Lipofectamine 2000 (L2K) before addition to cells. L2K alone was included as control. Untreated cells were used as the baseline. Concentration of all tested particles was 10 × 10−9 m. Fibers with every monomer (EM) and every other monomer (EOM) functionalized were compared. Culture supernatants collected 24 h after the treatment were analyzed in duplicate by the multiplex ELISA. Percent coefficient of variation between individual replicates was less than 25. Error bars are ±SD (N = 3). Statistical analysis was performed by one-way ANOVA (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001).