IL-6 affects differentiation of inflammatory monocytes.

Il6rafl/fl×LysMcre and Il6rafl/fl littermate control mice were infected i.v. with 2×104 listeria. Two days p.i., liver and spleen cells from infected mice were isolated and inflammatory monocytes were characterized by flow cytometry (gating strategy is given in S1A Fig). (A) Mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of different surface proteins. (B) Representative histograms of CD38 expression. (C) Representative dot plots of intracellular TNFα and IL-6 expression in inflammatory monocytes. Spleen cells were stimulated with LPS for 4 h. (D) Frequency of TNFα+ and IL-6+ inflammatory monocytes. (E) MFI of intracellular TNFα and IL-6 staining of inflammatory monocytes. One representative experiment of two with 5 to 7 mice per group is shown. Bars represent mean ± SEM. Significance was determined with student’s t-test.