Figure 8.

Inhibition of cell proliferation is prevented when SAgs are preincubated with HLA-DR1 or F(ab)'₂. THP-1 cells were incubated with SAgs alone or with SAgs preincubated with DR1 or F(ab)'₂ α-Sags, and proliferation was evaluated by [³H]-thymidine at 48 h. Results are expressed as the percentage of proliferation related to untreated condition (basal) for each SAg. In this experiment and the following, only the most studied egc SAgs, SEG, and SEI and streptococcal SSA were assessed. Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM of at least three independent experiments. Asterisks represent statistical significance with respect to the untreated cells in each treatment: ****p < 0.0001, ns, non-significant difference. Hashes represent statistical significance with respect to cells treated only with SAgs in each treatment: ^####p < 0.0001.