Figure 4.

Suppression of cytokine release from monocytes by peripheral CD71⁺ erythroid cells derived from patients. (a) A schematic method describing the isolation of peripheral CD71⁺ erythroid cells and the co-culture of monocytes with erythroid cells. Peripheral CD45⁻ CD71⁺ GPA⁺ erythroid cells were isolated from peripheral mononuclear cells of SoJIA patients using magnetic separation and a cell sorting technique. Cells were co-cultured in three ratio patterns of patient’s CD71⁺ erythroid cells to heathy adult’s monocytes. (b–e) The levels of (b) interleukin-1β, (c) interleukin-6, (d) tumor necrosis factor-α, and (e) interleukin-8 in the culture supernatant after stimulation with lipopolysaccharide at 0, 10, and 100 ng/mL. Monocytes from a healthy control were co-cultured with peripheral CD71⁺ erythroid cells derived from a SoJIA patient at ratios of 1:0, 1:2, and 1:4. The experiment was repeated three times using PBCECs derived from three different patients, and each culture was performed in triplicate. Data are representative of three independent experiments. Data are represented as the mean ± SD and analyzed by the Mann–Whitney U test with Bonferroni correction. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001. LPS lipopolysaccharide, Mo: E ratio mixture ratio of healthy monocytes and the patient-derived peripheral CD71⁺ erythroid cells.