Fig. 3

NK cells and DCs respond to laquinimod therapy independently. a Expression of CD69 (MFI) on splenic NK cells of Itgax-DTR mice treated for 3 days with laquinimod or vehicle. Itgax-DTR mice had been depleted of DCs 24 h prior to laquinimod therapy by 100 ng diphtheria toxin. Data are presented as mean ± S.E.M. and are representative of two independent experiments with six animals/group. **P < 0.01, unpaired t test. b Representative flow cytometry analysis of MHC class II/CD11c expression in NK cell-depleted spleens at day 11 post-MOG_35–55 immunization. Frequency of MHC class II⁺ CD11c^high cells in the spleens of NK cell-competent (filled bars) and NK cell-depleted (hollow bars) mice treated with vehicle (gray) or laquinimod (blue) as assessed by flow cytometry. Data are presented as mean ± S.E.M. and are representative of two independent experiments with three animals/group. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, one-way ANOVA. c Frequency of CD69⁺ NK cells in purified splenic mouse NK cell cultures treated with 1000 U/ml IL-2 and 10 μM laquinimod or vehicle for 48 h. Data are presented as mean ± S.E.M. and are representative of three independent experiments. *P < 0.05, unpaired t test. d Frequency of CD69⁺ NK cells in sorted human NK cell cultures treated with 50 U/ml IL-2 and 15 μM laquinimod or vehicle for 120 h. Data are presented as mean ± S.E.M. and are representative of two independent experiments. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, unpaired t test. e CD69, NKG2D, and DNAM-1 expression (MFI) in naïve C57BL/6J or AhR^−/− mice treated for 11 days with 25 mg/kg laquinimod or vehicle. Data are presented as mean ± S.E.M. and are representative of two independent experiments with five animals per group. ***P < 0.001, two-way ANOVA