Expression of HCMV US proteins by MSC decreases PBMNC proliferation and correlates with the levels of HLA-I.

<p>(A) Each of the transduced and untransduced MSCs were used as stimulators and were co-cultured with responders human PBMNC. After five days, DNA synthesis was assayed with the BrdU cell proliferation colorimetric ELISA. Data represents mean ± SEM of four independent experiments. In each experiment the specific stimulator-responder co-culture was performed in triplicate (* indicates p<0.01 and were considered statistically significant compared to MSC-E levels). (B) Furthermore a direct correlation was found between the levels of HLA-I MFI and human PBMNC proliferation.