Fig 2. Detection of characteristic cytokines in pDCs with different activation states.
a: Freshly isolated PBMCs from pSS or HC were cultured in the presence of IL3, R848 (TLR7 agonist) or ODN2216 (TLR9 agonist) was added at the 6th hour, GolgiPlug was added at the 9th hour. secretion of IFN-α by pDCs was examined through intracellular staining at the 12th hour. pDCs were gated as CD303+CD123+HLA-DR+LIN- cells; b: Comparison of IFN-α secretion between HC (n=7) and pSS (n=7). c: Freshly isolated PBMCs from pSS or HC were cultured in the presence of IL3 and GolgiPlug, stimulated by R848 or ODN2216 for 12 hours, intracellular staining was used to detect the secretion of IL-6; c:Comparison of IL-6 secretion between HC (n=7) and pSS (n=7); Representative flow cytometric graphs (d) and statistical graph(f) for TNF-α secretion (detected by the same method as IL-6). Data are shown as mean ± SEM. Unpaired two-tailed Student’s t-test was applied.