In vivo low dose rapamycin treatment attenuates activation-induced cell death of activated CD4+ T cells.

B10.RIII mice were treated with or without daily rapamycin (1.5 µg/mouse) as described previously. On day 21, the spleens were harvested, and further cultured in the presence or absence of anti-CD3 antibody (10 µg/ml) and anti-CD28 antibody (2 µg/ml). Seventy two hours later, the apoptosis of activated CD4+CD44+ T cells was analyzed by flow cytometry for Annexin V staining (All the data represent the mean of 6 animals per group; * p<0.05).