Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Show Increased Levels and Defective Function of CD69⁺ T Regulatory Cells

Figure 5

Inhibition of cytokine release by CD69⁺ Treg cells from patients with SLE and healthy controls. PBMC isolated from 10 patients with SLE and 10 healthy individuals were depleted or not of CD69⁺ cells and stimulated through CD3/CD28 for 24 hours. Then, cell culture supernatants were obtained and the concentrations of the indicated cytokines were determined by flow cytometry analysis. (a) IL-2 concentrations in PBMC culture supernatants depleted (PBMC w/o CD69⁺ cells) or not (PBMC) of CD69⁺ cells. (b) IL-17 concentrations in PBMC culture supernatants depleted (PBMC w/o CD69⁺ cells) or not (PBMC) of CD69⁺ cells. (c, d, e, f) Percentages of inhibition of cytokine release, which were calculated, as described in Materials and Methods, are shown. Data correspond to the arithmetic mean and SD. , , .

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