Defective CD4+CD25+regulatory T cell functioning in collagen-induced arthritis: an important factor in pathogenesis, counter-regulated by endogenous IFN-γ

Table 1 Proportion of regulatory T cells to the total CD4⁺ T cell population in lymphoid organs of naive and immunised IFN-γ receptor knock-out and wild-type (WT) DBA/1 mice

Cells were obtained from thymuses, spleens or lymph nodes of IFN-γ receptor knock-out (IFN-γR KO) and wild-type DBA/1 mice. In experiments 4 to 6, mice were immunised with collagen type II in complete Freund's adjuvant on day 0, and cells were obtained on day 21 (collagen-induced arthritis; CIA). Cells were stained with anti-CD25-FITC and phycoerythrin-conjugated anti-CD4 antibodies. The proportion of CD4⁺CD25⁺ in the total CD4⁺ T cell population is shown. In experiments 1, 2, 4 and 5, N (number in parentheses) indicates the number of mice in each experiment; in experiments 3 and 6, N represents the number of experiments, each consisting of groups of 5 to 10 mice, from which samples were pooled for analysis. *Significant difference between IFN-γR KO and wild-type mice (P < 0.05; Mann–Whitney U-test).

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