Fig. 3

Effects of MPA on the ability of human DC subsets to produce cytokines. a, d Purified human pDCs and mDCs were incubated with different concentrations of MPA (1−10 μM) or vehicle, in the presence of CpG-ODN and R848, respectively. After 24 h, the concentrations of the indicated cytokines in the culture supernatants of pDCs (a) and mDCs (d) were measured by ELISA. One set of experiments was performed on DCs from one donor, and the data are shown as the mean ± SEM of eight (for pDC-IFN-α), four (for pDC-TNF), five (for mDC-IL-12), or six (for mDC-TNF) independent donors. b, e After 8 h of culture with 10 μM MPA or vehicle, the mRNA levels of IFNA1, IL12B, and TNF were analyzed in the DC subsets by real-time PCR. One set of experiments was performed on DCs from one donor, and the data are shown as the mean ± SEM of three independent donors. c pDCs were incubated with MPA (1 or 10 μM) or vehicle in serum-free RPMI, and serum (serum-1 or serum-2) from two SLE patients (at a final concentration of 20% vol/vol) was added. After 24 h, the concentrations of IFN-α in the culture supernatants were measured by ELISA. One set of experiments was performed on pDCs from one donor, and the data are shown as the mean ± SEM of five independent donors. Statistical significance was determined using a paired t test (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01). n.d., not detected