Effect of GNPs on necrotic HEp-2-induced maturation and functions of DCs.

<p>(A) Phenotypic maturation of DCs is shown, as mean ± SE (n = 4 experiments); see also <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0096584#pone.0096584.s001" target="_blank">Figure S1</a>; MFI-mean fluorescence intensity (B) DCs' capacity to stimulate the proliferation of allogeneic CD3⁺T cells, at 3 different DC/CD3⁺T ratios (X-axis), is shown as mean CPM ± SD of six replicates, from one representative experiment. (C) DCs' ability to produce IL-12p70, IL-23 and IL-10 after 48 h; (D) DCs' ability to induce production of cytokines by CD3⁺T cells in co-culture. (C) and (D) are presented as mean indexes ± SD (n = 4 experiments). (E) Metabolic activity of live HEp-2 cells co-cultivated with CD3⁺T cells, previously primed with DCs for 5 d. Results from a representative MTT assay are shown as mean ± SD of six replicates *p<0.05 (Friedman's two-way ANOVA).