Activation of Fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 3 Signaling Enhances Survivin Expression in a Mouse Model of Rheumatoid Arthritis
Figure 1
Treatment with Flt3 ligand increases expression of surviving.
(A) Levels of Flt3L in blood and synovial fluid of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Stratification of patients was done into the groups of survivin+ (serum or synovial fluid levels above 450 pg/ml, n = 29) and compared to survivin- (serum and synovial fluid levels below 450 pg/ml, n = 61). (B) Survivin levels in bone marrow from Flt3L or PBS treated mice measured by sandwich ELISA (left panel; Flt3L, n = 8; PBS, n = 8), and the percentage of the survivin positive bone marrow cells measured by flow cytometry (right panel; Flt3L, n = 7; PBS, n = 11). (C) Flt3L treatment increased the intensity of survivin (expressed as gMFI) in the Flt3+ and Flt3- cell populations. (D) Flow cytometry histogram showing survivin staining in spleen MHCII+CD11chi dendritic cells (dark) compared to total spleen mononuclear cells (open) and isotype control staining (dashed). (E) Percentage of survivin positive cells in the MHCII+CD11chi dendritic cell population in the spleen after treatment with Flt3L (n = 7) or Flt3-inhibitor sunitinib (Sun) (n = 10) compared to control groups (n = 10 and 11 respectively). Comparison between the groups was done by the Mann-Whitney statistics. (*), p<0.05; (**), p<0.01; (***), p<0.001.