Atorvastatin primes iDC to produce IL-10 and to generate T cells with a greater suppressive capacity.

(A) Intracellular IL-10 expression in C57Bl/6-derived iDC and aiDC, unstimulated and stimulated with PMA-ionomycin, was measured by flow cytometry. Quadrants were set according to unstained controls. (B) Atorvastatin treated and untreated iDC were used to generate a regulatory T cell population by repetitive stimulation of allogeneic naïve CD4 T cells in the presence of regulatory cytokines. The regulatory capacity was assessed by the suppression of proliferation of pre-activated CD4 effector cells. Shown are the changes of effector T cell proliferation (in percent) for different suppressor T cell to T effector cell (targets) ratios and different atorvastatin concentrations (untreated, 2 µM and 10 µM) used during generation of iDC. Representative experiments of at least three are shown. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant, asterisks represent ** = p<0.01, *** = p<0.001.