High CD56 expression coincides with higher levels of PD-L1, TRAIL, granzyme B, and effector functions. (A) The dot plots show the gating strategy used to identify and distinguish CD56^low and CD56^high expressing FSME-pDCs. Based on the gating strategy, phenotypical characterization was performed to study the percentage (B) and MFI (C) of the various molecules expressed by FSME-pDCs. (D) Peripheral blood leucocytes (1 × 10⁵) were stimulated for 4 days with either 5 × 10³, 2 × 10³, 1 × 10³, or 0.5 × 10³ allogeneic CD56^high or CD56^low FSME-pDCs. (B-D) Data shown are mean values ± SEM of at least 3 independent experiments performed with different donors (*P < .05, **P < .01, ***P < .001).