AEP activity is required for full cytokine production following TLR7 stimulation.

<p>(A, B) IL-6, KC or IFN-α secretions in supernatants of AEP^+/+ (white bars) or AEP^−/− (black bars) lung primary epithelial cells (A) or pDCs activated (B) with 10 µg/mL of imiquimod or with the IAV virus PR8 heat killed (HK) or live at a multiplicity of infection = 1 or 5 for 16 h or 24 h. (n = 2–3; mean ± SEM, * p<0.05, ** p<0.01, *** p<0.001). (C) BMDCs from AEP^−/− mice (black bars) and from their wild type littermates (white bars) were stimulated with different TLR ligands for 16 h and secretion of IL-6, IL-12p40 and TNF-α in supernatants was measured by ELISA. (n = 2–6, mean ± SEM, * p<0.05, ** p<0.01, *** p<0.001).