Figure 3

Effect of tick saliva on the expression of CD40, CD86 and PD-L1 stimulated with LPS. Bone marrow cells derived from C57BL/6 mice were collected and cultured for 7 days in the presence of GM-CSF to allow differentiation into DCs. DCs were then pre-incubated with saliva (diluted 1:10, 1:30, 1:100, 1:300 and 1:1000 v/v) from A. cajennense for 1 hour. After that, DCs were then stimulated for an additional 18 hr with LPS (100 ng/ml). After this time, culture cells were collected and evaluated for the expression of surface molecules CD11c/ CD40 (A), CD11c/CD86 (B), and CD11c/PD-L1 (C). Bars represent the mean ± SD percentage of DCs expressing molecular markers from triplicate experiments. *: p < 0.05 compared with DCs cultured with LPS.