Figure 3. NaCl-induced FoxP3 upregulation in Th17 cells is stably maintained after entering low-NaCl conditions, whereas IL-17A upregulation is transient.

(A–C) Human Th17 cells (CCR6⁺CCR4⁺CXCR3^–) were restimulated with CD3 and CD28 mAbs (48 hours plate-bound) in low or high NaCl concentrations for a total culture period of 5 days. Intracellular staining and FACS analysis after PMA and ionomycin restimulation are shown. The Th17 cells were restimulated again with CD3 and CD28 mAbs up to 3 times for 5 days, with 2 additional resting days between the restimulations (n = 3). The change of the geometric mean of FoxP3 expression (B) compared with control Th17 cells that were restimulated once in low-NaCl conditions (C) are shown. One-way ANOVA was used for comparisons among multiple groups.