Fig. 2

Endometrial DCs induce naïve T cell proliferation in a subset-specific manner. Allogeneic naïve T cells from blood were co-cultured with CD14 + or CD1a + cells isolated from the endometrium. A Representative plot demonstrating proliferation of naïve T cells in the absence and presence of CD14 + or CD1a + endometrial cells. B Comparison of the percentage of naïve T cell proliferation induced by CD14 + and CD1a + endometrial cells from the same women (n = 7). C Representative example of CD4 + and CD8 + naïve T cell proliferation induced by CD14 + and CD1a + endometrial antigen presenting cells. D Proliferation rate of CD8 + or CD4 + naïve T cells in the presence of CD14 + or CD1a + cells. E Flow cytometry plot of different blood naïve T cell populations after proliferation assay. F Representative plots demonstrating induction of DN T cell proliferation by CD14 + or CD1a + endometrial antigen presenting cells. G Proliferation percentage of DN T cells in response to the different endometrial antigen presenting cell subsets. Wilcoxon pair comparison was used. H Percentage of CD4 + , CD8 + and DN T cell proliferation in the absence (control) or presence of the TGFβ signaling inhibitor SB431542 (n = 7). Non-parametric Friedman test for multiple comparisons was used. I Fold change of cytokine production in co-culture of blood naïve T cells with allogeneic endometrial antigen presenting cells (CD1a + (black; n = 3) and CD14 + (white; n = 3)) in the presence of the TGFβ signaling inhibitor SB431542 relative to control conditions. One sample Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare the median of the TGFβ blockade group to the normalized value of the controls [1]. *p < 0.05. J Representative plots showing expression of CD103 on DN, CD8 + and CD4 + T cells during the proliferation process induced by CD14 + or CD1a + endometrial antigen presenting cells. K Percentage of CD103 expression on proliferated DN T cells in the absence (control) or presence of the TGFβ signaling inhibitor SB431542 (n = 7)