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

Figure 2

SMCs fail to induce OT-II CD4⁺ T cell proliferation. Representative plots and relative statistical analysis showing the effect of SMCs on OT-II CD4⁺ T cell proliferation. IFN-γ-stimulated SMCs were treated with OVA (1 mg/mL) or OVA_323–339 peptide (0.5 µg/mL) overnight and then cocultured with CFSE-labeled OT-II CD4⁺ T cells for 72 h. OVA-treated DCs were used as a positive control. Results are expressed as mean ± SEM from three separate experiments run in triplicate. ^∗∗𝑃<0.01 versus OT-II CD4⁺ T cells alone.