Figure 10.

Administration of 50 µg of LPS does not enhance secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines but inhibits induction/expansion of Foxp3⁺ Tregs upon treatment with pOVA-PEG20. 24 h after adoptive transfer of OVA-specific CD4⁺ T cells, recipients received i.v. PBS (control), 5 µg of pOVA or equimolar amounts of pOVA-PEG conjugates with or without additional LPS. After 6 days, splenocytes were isolated and Foxp3 expression as well as TNF production was assessed by flow cytometry. (A) % TNF⁺ cells gated on OVA-specific CD4⁺ cells, mean ± SD of data from three independent experiments. (B) % KJ1.26⁺ (OVA-specific) splenocytes among total CD4⁺ population; mean ± SD of pooled data from three independent experiments. (C) % Foxp3⁺ cells gated on OVA-specific CD4⁺ cells; mean ± SD of pooled data from three independent experiments. n = 5–6; pOVA-PEG20, n = 8. Statistical testing was performed using the nonparametric Mann Whitney test and Holm-Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. ns, non-significant, **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.