Figure 5.

The expression of phosphorylated mTOR is reduced in stimulated CD56^bright NK cells after trauma and inversely correlates with the expression of CD117. (A) Representative histograms of phosphorylated mTOR expression in CD56^bright NK cells from control subjects (c) and trauma patients (t) ex vivo. (B) Cumulative data of phosphorylated mTOR expression ex vivo (n = 10). (C,D) PBMC were stimulated with S. aureus and intracellular expression of phosphorylated mTOR was determined after 18 h. Representative histograms after stimulation with S. aureus (C) and cumulative data (n = 10) of phosphorylated mTOR (D) are shown. (E) Recombinant IL-15 or SB431542 was added during stimulation of PBMC from trauma patients (n = 10) with S. aureus [the values for cells stimulated with S. aureus alone are also shown in (D)]. Horizontal lines indicate the median/interquartile range. Statistical differences between control and trauma (B,D) were tested using the Mann-Whitney U-test, differences between different culture conditions (E) were tested using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. (F) Spearman correlation between expression of CD117 and phosphorylated mTOR after stimulation with S. aureus. **p < 0.01. iso, isotype control.