Fig. 5.

MSCs can modulate T cell capacity to produce pro or anti-inflammatory cytokines via the TNFα/TNFR2 signaling pathway. Effector T cells were co-cultured with MSCs WT or TNFR2 KO in a fixed 1/5 ratio. After 3 days, T cells were collected, activated with PMA/ionomycin, and then blocked with GolgiPlug (a protein transport inhibitor). Intracellular pro-inflammatory cytokine (a, b) and anti-inflammatory cytokine (c, d) production was determined in both CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells. Cells were first gated on CD4⁺Foxp3⁻ or CD8⁺Foxp3⁻ T cells to precisely analyze the conventional T cell population. For each marker, the strategy of gating is indicated on the left (y-axis) and below (x-axis) the figure. The x-axis represents each cytokine, and the y-axis represents the CD4 or CD8 populations. Each dot represents a measured value (n = 12) collected from 2 different experiments. For each group of values, horizontal lines represent the mean value and standard error of the mean. One-way ANOVA analysis was performed to generate P values. ns, non-significant; **P < .01, ***P < .001