Figure 7.

T cell antigen experience and effector function increases specifically at the disease site in islets following MERTK inhibition. (A and B) NOD female mice were treated with UNC2025 or vehicle. Islets and LNs were isolated 17 h after treatment initiation, digested, stained and analyzed by flow cytometry. (A) Quantification of antigen experience by CD44/CD62L expression. Gated on CD45⁺CD90.2⁺CD8⁺ or CD45⁺CD90.2⁺CD4⁺. n = 6 mice per group from two independent experiments. Statistics: two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post-test. Error bars represent SEM. (B) Quantification of effector function by granzyme B expression. Mice were treated in vivo with Brefeldin A for 4 h before harvest to block secretion. Cells were gated on CD45⁺CD8⁺granzyme B⁺. Granzyme B expression was measured by normalized MFI. n = 8 mice per group from four independent experiments. Error bars represent SEM. Statistics performed on the nonnormalized MFI values using a Mann–Whitney test. *, P < 0.05, ****, P < 0.0001.