Figure 10.

BTLA⁺ DCs and BTLA⁻ DCs in active TB patients exhibited a reduced capacity to induce allogeneic T cell proliferation. BTLA⁺ DCs and BTLA⁻ DCs were sorted by flow cytometry from sputum smear-positive APT patients (n = 8) and HCs (n = 8). Moreover, CD3⁺ T cells were isolated from an allogeneic donor and labeled with CFSE. Allo-MLC was performed by mixing BTLA⁺ DCs or BTLA⁻ DCs with allogeneic CD3⁺ T cell subsets, and T cell proliferation was determined by flow cytometry. (A) shows the flow cytometric histogram of the proliferation of CD3⁺ T cells stimulated by BTLA⁺ DCs and BTLA⁻ DCs. (B,C) show T cell proliferation in CD3⁺CD4⁺ T cells (B) and CD3⁺CD4⁻ T cells (C) stimulated by BTLA⁺ DCs and BTLA⁻ DCs from the HC and APT groups, respectively. The P-values are shown in each column (ANOVA with the Dunnett post-hoc test). ^*P < 0.05, ^**P < 0.01, ^***P < 0.001. In (A), P < 0.001 for HC-BTLA⁺ and HC-BTLA⁻ vs. Control, but P > 0.05 for APT-BTLA⁺ and APT-BTLA⁻ vs. Control. In (B), P ≤ 0.05 for all HC and APT groups vs. Control. For (C), P < 0.01 for all HC and APT groups vs. Control.