Expression of candidate IgA inducing molecules of BM-DCs.

(A) BM-DCs were cultured as described previously and pulsed with PBS, LPS (1 ng/ml) +/− CTB (10 µg/ml) or CTB alone. After 24 hrs the following gene expression was analyzed (A) RALDH1, RALDH2, iNOS, BAFF, APRIL and TGF-β. Expression is normalized against the house keeping gene GAPDH and displayed as relative to conventional unpulsed BM-DCs. Mean+sem of 4 indvidual BM-DC cultures are shown. (B) BM-DCs were generated by culture in GM-CSF or Flt3-L, and pulsed as described. After 24 hours, cells were washed and stained for ALDEFLUOR activity (according to the instructions of the manufacturer), CD11c, CD11b and MHCII expression and analyzed by flowcytometry. The results are a mean+sem from 4 independent experiments. * P<0.05, ** P<0.01, *** P<0.001.