MPA and tacrolimus act differentially on the polarization of M1 and M2 macrophages.

<p>CD14+ isolated monocytes were cultured for 4 days in the presence of either M-CSF and IFN-γ (left graphs), M-CSF and IL-4 (middle graphs) or M-CSF and IL-10 (right graphs). In addition, vehicle, 10 ng/ml tacrolimus, 50 ng/ml tacrolimus, 200 ng/ml tacrolimus or 10 μg/ml MPA were added to each culture condition. Tacrolimus changed the expression of M2 markers under a M1-driven condition and decreases the expression of M1 markers under M2 conditions. MPA reduced the expression of CD80 under a M2 inducing condition and increased M2 expression under IFN-γ stimulation. (Data are plotted as the mean ±SEM n = 3 *) p < 0.05; **) p < 0.01; ***) p < 0.001.