Regulatory T cells maintain tolerance during T-cell mediated hepatitis.

<p>4*10⁶ CD8 OT-I T cells were transferred into TF-OVAxDEREG mice at day 0 and day 21 (A–C). In addition, Treg were depleted by application of DT, either at the time point of the first transfer of CD8 OT-I T cells (B) or at the time point of the second CD8 OT-I T-cell transfer (C). Control mice received DT alone at both time points (D). Depicted are serum ALT levels of mice at the indicated time points. Statistics were performed using the Wilcoxon-signed-rank-test; p-values<0.05 were considered significant. (A-D) Histology of livers was assessed at day 26 using H&E staining (magnification 100x), as well as antibodies against CD3 (magnification 200x; red membrane staining). Depicted are representative pictures from TF-OVAxDEREG mice treated as indicated in A-D. (E) Box plot depicts the number of CD3⁺T cells in liver sections quantified as described in methods of n = 6–7 mice. (F) Box Plot shows the corresponding ALT-levels measured in sera of n = 5–7 mice at day 26. *p<0.05, **p<0.01; Kruskal–Wallis with Dunn’s posttest.