Adoptive Cell Therapy of Induced Regulatory T Cells Expanded by Tolerogenic Dendritic Cells on Murine Autoimmune Arthritis

Figure 3

iTreg_mtDC exhibited a more potent antiarthritic activity in CIA mice than iTregs. Following the onset of experimentally induced CIA (on day 25 after the primary immunization), recipient mice received adoptively transferred iTregs, iTreg_mDC, or iTreg_mtDC (1 × 10⁶ cells/animal). Mice were scored for clinical signs of arthritis in the limb joints by macroscopic examination three times per week. Limb joint arthritis was assessed using an established scoring system. The mice were sacrificed on the 49th day after the first immunization with CII. (a) Arthritic scores and incidence for each group following the adoptive transfer of different types of iTregs () during the observation period are shown. , , and for the comparison of the CIA group and the CIA + iTreg_mtDC group; ^# for the comparison of the CIA + iTreg group and the CIA + iTreg_mtDC group; and ^$ for the comparison of the CIA + iTreg_mDC group and the CIA + iTreg_mtDC group using the unpaired t-test. (b) Hind paw specimens were collected from recipient mice treated with different types of iTregs on the 49th day after the first immunization with CII and were stained with H&E (top, synovial joint inflammation) and Safranin O (bottom, cartilage erosion). All specimens were shown at ×200. (c) Histopathological scores for inflammation and destruction in each group are expressed as the means ± SEM of four individual experiments. for the comparisons of the indicated groups using the unpaired t-test.

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