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

Figure 4

In the CIA mouse model, iTreg_mtDC modulated the secretion of cytokines and anti-CII antibodies and polarized the Treg/Th17 balance. Recipient mice that received adoptively transferred iTregs, iTreg_mDC, or iTreg_mtDC were sacrificed on the 49th day after the first immunization with CII, and serum was collected from each group of mice. (a) Serum levels of IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-17, IL-6, and IL-10 were measured using CBA assays, and TGF-β secretion was measured using an ELISA. Data are reported as means ± SEM (). , , and for the comparisons of the indicated groups using the unpaired t-test. (b) Serum levels of total CII-specific immunoglobulin were determined using an ELISA. The results from five independent replicate experiments were pooled. Data are reported as means ± SEM (). and for the comparisons of the indicated groups using the unpaired t-test. (c) CD4⁺ T cells from the spleen and inguinal lymph nodes of CIA mice treated with or without different types of iTregs were collected, permeabilized, and stained with an anti-Foxp3 mAb and an anti-IL-17 mAb to detect intracellular expression. FACS flow cytometry was used to measure the percentage of positively stained cells, and the ratios of Treg/Th17 cells are expressed as the means ± SEM of five independent experiments. and for the comparisons of the indicated groups using the unpaired t-test.

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