Figure 1.

Inhibition of T cell proliferation by ASCs of healthy donors (HD) and AS patients. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) obtained from 9 healthy donors (HD) were stimulated with PHA and cultured alone (control) or cocultured for 5 days with either untreated or TNF + IFNγ- (TI-) stimulated ASCs from 5 HD (HD/ASCs) or 10 AS patients (AS/ASCs). The proliferation of CD4⁺ (a–c) and CD8⁺ (d–f) T cells was analyzed by flow cytometry. Data are the results of the indicated number of experiments (n). (a, d) Lines between points identify cultures containing the same combination of ASCs and PBMCs. (b–f) Results are expressed as the median (horizontal line) with interquartile range (IQR, box), lower and upper whiskers (data within 3/2×IQR) and outliers (points) (Tukey's box). ^∗P = 0.05–0.01, ^∗∗P = 0.01‐0.001, and ^∗∗∗P = 0.001‐0.0001 for intragroup comparisons (cell cocultures vs. control separate cultures and as indicated). The intergroup (HD vs. AS) differences were statistically insignificant.