B7-H4 Inhibits the Development of Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome by Regulating Treg Differentiation in NOD/Ltj Mice

Figure 7

B7-H4Ig ameliorates pSS through expanding Tregs. (a, b) Splenocytes from 15-week-old control Ig treatment and B7-H4Ig treatment NOD/Ltj mice. Staining of (a) CD4 and intracellular staining of Foxp3 cells were performed. (b) Accumulated data of CD4+Foxp3+/CD4+ T cells. (c, d) The salivary glands were collected from control Ig treatment and B7-H4Ig treatment NOD/Ltj mice. Relative levels of (c) Foxp3 mRNA and (d) IL-10 mRNA were determined by quantitative RT-PCR. (e) Colocalization of Foxp3 with CD4 in the salivary glands from B7-H4Ig or control Ig treatment in NOD/Ltj mouse. Anti-Foxp3 (green); anti-CD4 (red); and DAPI (blue). Representative results are shown from three independent experiments (200x magnification). Examples of CD4+Fopx3+ T cells (arrow) are indicated in the left panels. The right panels represent the enlarged portion of the indicated (white hatched box) area in the left panels. (f) Ratio of CD4+Foxp3+/CD4+ T cells in the salivary glands from control Ig or B7-H4 Ig treatment in NOD/Ltj mouse. Two-tailed Student’s -test. All the data presented were from three independent experiments.

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