TLR7/TLR8 Activation Restores Defective Cytokine Secretion by Myeloid Dendritic Cells but Not by Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells in HIV-Infected Pregnant Women and Newborns
Figure 6
Marked decrease in pDC responsiveness to TLR activation in peripheral blood and CB from HIV-1-infected mothers.
PBMCs from mothers (M) and cord blood (CB) of HIV-1-infected (n = 15) and uninfected controls (n = 15) were stimulated or not (baseline) for 20 h with agonists of TLR7 (Imiquimode), TLR7/TLR8 (CL097) and TLR9 (CpG). Brefeldin was added after 5 h of stimulation. Intracellular IFN-α secretion by pDCs (CD123+lin-HLA-DR+) was assessed by flow cytometry. a) Representative histograms of CD123+IFN-α+ cells upon TLR stimulation from one HIV-infected and one uninfected mother. The number in the corner represents the cell percentage. b) Data represent the mean percentage ± SEM. *p≤0.05, **p≤0.01, ***p≤0.001 when compared with the control group; +p≤0.05, ++p≤0.01, +++p≤0.001 when compared with baseline levels.