Murine Aortic Smooth Muscle Cells Acquire, Though Fail to Present Exogenous Protein Antigens on Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II Molecules

Figure 1

SMCs acquire exogenous antigens but fail to present them in the context of MHC class II. Evaluation of antigen uptake/presentation by murine SMCs. SMCs were stimulated with IFN-γ (100 ng/mL) for 72 h and subsequently treated with Eα-GFP peptide (100 µg/mL) for the indicated time points. (a) MHC class II expression. (b) GFP expression. (c) Representative flow cytometry plots showing no positivity of SMCs to the Y-Ae Ab or (d) positivity of DCs, used as a positive control. Results are expressed as mean ± SEM from three separate experiments. ^∗𝑃<0.05, ^∗∗𝑃<0.01, versus unstimulated cells.

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