Conventional DCs from Male and Female Lupus-Prone B6.NZM Sle1/Sle2/Sle3 Mice Express an IFN Signature and Have a Higher Immunometabolism That Are Enhanced by Estrogen

Figure 8

E2 enhances both IFN-dependent and IFN-independent cytokine production. Bone marrow precursors from B6 (black closed symbols) or TCSle (gray open symbols) female (circle) and male (triangle) mice were cultured with GM-CSF in standard phenol red/media conditions or media depleted in phenol red and void of steroids (charcoal-treated FBS: 0 E2) supplemented with 0.03 nM, 0.1 nM, or 50 nM E2. On day 7, cDCs were stimulated with CpG (10 μg/mL) (a, c, e) or R848 (1 μg/mL) (b, d, f). Supernatants were harvested and analyzed by ELISA 24 hours (IL-12p70 (a, b)) or 6 hours (IL-6 (c, d) and TNF-α (e, f)) post stimulation. Mean + SE values are from 3 (female cDCs) or 4 (male cDCs) independent experiments, using one mouse of each strain and sex per experiment. Two-way ANOVA analysis with Tukey multiple comparisons, used to compare differences between B6 and TCSle, did not reveal significance between the strains. Two-way ANOVA analysis with Tukey multiple comparisons was used to calculate the significance of the effects of E2 treatment within each group of mice, represented by brackets below the graph. Black indicates significance within all 4 groups while symbols represent significance within a single group. , Δ, and O represent . , ΔΔ, and OO represent . represents .

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