Anti-CD44 antibodies potentiate the differentiation of monocytes to fibrocytes.

<p>Human PBMC were cultured in 2 µg/ml anti-human anti-CD44, anti-CD43, or mouse IgG1 isotype control. After 5 days, the cells were air dried, fixed, stained, and the number of fibrocytes was counted. The results are mean ± SEM of percent control (n = 6 separate experiments). The number of fibrocytes per 2.5×10⁵ PBMC in controls was 350, 50, 350, 250, 450, and 50. * indicates p<0.05 compared to control, as determined by ANOVA with Dunnett's post-test). Using the Mann Whitney two-tailed t-test, 2 µg/ml anti-human anti-CD44 antibodies significantly increases the number of fibrocytes when compared to control with p<0.001.