Figure 4

Recombinant Sm16 blocks cytokine production in BMMΦs exposed to TLR4 and TLR3, but not TLR2 ligands. (A-B) IL-12p40 and (C-D) IL-10 in culture supernatants from BMMΦs exposed to (A&C) Poly I:C (25 μg/ml), (B & D) Pam3CSK4 (5 μg/ml), or Media, plus rSm16 (10 μg/ml) (hatched bars) or an equivalent volume of protein buffer (open bars). Stimulus only controls (black bars) are also given. (E) BMMΦs from TLR2^−/− mice exposed to LPS (1 ng/ml), or Poly I:C (25 μg/ml) (solid bars), plus rSm16 (10 μg/ml) (hatched bars), and supernatants tested for IL-12p40 by ELISA. Means + SEM of 3 technical replicates are presented. Dotted line represents minimum level of cytokine detection. ANOVA and Bonferroni’s or Sidak’s test were performed to examine statistically significant differences between the means (* = p < 0.05; ** = p < 0.01; *** = p < 0.001; **** = p < 0.0001; ns = p > 0.05). Results are representative of three independent experiments.