Figure 1.

Effects of CAFs on DC differentiation markers. Monocytes stimulated with GM-CSF and IL-4 were incubated for 6 days with conditioned medium from irradiated or non-irradiated CAFs (CAF-CM, left panels) or in co-cultures (CAF-CC, right panels). Resulting expression of iDC cell surface markers CD14, CD1a, and CD209 were evaluated by flow cytometry. (A) Representative dot plots of the percentage of expression of CD14, CD209, and CD1a in monocytes, iDCs, and monocytes stimulated with GM-CSF and IL-4 in co-culture with CAFs. (B) Bar graphs represent mean ( ± SD) values from flow cytometry analysis of 4 different CAF donors, measured independently. Pattern columns indicate surface levels in control monocytes and iDC cultures. Results are expressed as percentage of total cells. Brown-Forsythe and Welch ANOVA test and p-values were determined between iDCs and non-irradiated CAFs, iDCs, and the two irradiated CAF-groups separately. **p ≤ 0.01