Spleen from TLI-preconditioned mice alters the pattern of cytokine secretion by OVA-Tg CD4⁺ cells following primary antigen activation.

Purified OVA-Tg CD4⁺ cells were cultured for 48 hours with APCs from untreated mice (BALB/c, n = 7), TLI-preconditioned BALB/c mice (TLI, n = 7), or a 1:1 mixture of both (BALB/c/TLI, n = 3) with either no antigen (open bars) or 100 nM OVA peptide (hatched bars), and cytokines were measured in the 48-hour supernatants by ELISA. Error bars represent the mean ± SE of the separate experiments. ELISA detection limits were 1 pg/mL (IL-4), 5 pg/mL (IFN-γ), and 10 pg/mL (IL-2). Statistics were performed to compare cytokine levels of restimulated cultures (hatched bars). *Significant difference compared with other groups, P < .05, analysis of variance and t test.