Fig. 5. Activation of BMDCs 24 h post exposure to epitope-decorated GNPs and GNRs through cytokine release (A) IL-12 and (B) IL-1β or cellular receptor upregulation of (C) CD80 and (D) CD86. The different nanoparticles were used in the following equivalent concentrations: 15 nm GNPs – equivalent to ∼500 nM epitope; 40 nm GNPs – equivalent to ∼125 nM epitope; GNRs – equivalent to ∼300 nM epitope. For comparison, OVA_257-264 was added to study cellular receptor upregulation (200 nM in the cell exposure medium). Significance of the datasets mean values was determined through comparison to the negative control (PBS or supplemented DMEM, * – p-value ≤ 0.05, ** – p-value ≤ 0.01, *** – p-value ≤ 0.001, **** – p-value ≤ 0.0001). For more data points, see Fig. S10–S15.†.