DC_regs protected CLP-treated mice from sepsis-induced immunodysregulation. Mice were given intraperitoneal injections of mDCs or DC_regs (10⁶/mouse) 6 hours after CLP. Subsequently, thymocytes and spleen CD4⁺ T cells were obtained 24 hours after CLP. Thymocytes were obtained from normal mice or CLP-treated mice, and the total number of thymocytes (A) or the incidence of apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry (B). ^*P < .01 compared with the normal mice; †, compared with untreated mice; ‡, compared with mice given injections of mDCs, by Student paired t test. (C,D) CD4⁺ T cells (10⁵) obtained from normal and CLP-treated mice were cultured with various numbers (1.25 × 10³ to 10⁴) of irradiated allogeneic mDCs for 3 days. (C) Proliferative response was measured by [³H]thymidine uptake. ^*P < .01 compared with the normal mice; †, compared with untreated mice; ‡, compared with mice given injections of mDCs, by Student paired t test. (D) Production of IL-2 (left panel) and IFN-γ (right panel) in the culture supernatants was measured. ^*P < .01 compared with the normal mice; †, compared with untreated mice; ‡, compared with mice given injections of mDCs, by Student paired t test. Data were expressed as mean ± SD of triplicate samples, and the results are representative of 4 experiments with similar results.