Fig. 2

Analyses of FMR1, CTCF and MAX expression in the thymus and thymic epithelial cells. RT-PCR analysis for FMR1 (A) and CTCF (B) in the thymus of non-MG donors (infant females (n = 6, grey dots), adult females (n = 6, black dots) and adult males (n = 6, bleu dots). Correlation between FMR1 and CTCF mRNA expression in non-MG thymuses (C). Western blots for FMPR and GAPDH on thymic extracts. Six bands were recognized by the anti-FMRP antibody (D). Each band was quantified using Fiji and divided by the one corresponding to GAPDH. E for non-MG donors (female (n = 2) and male (n = 2) adults) and MG female patients (n = 3). RT-PCR analysis for FMR1, CTCF and MAX in the thymus non-MG female donors (infants and adults, n = 12, grey dots) and MG patients (n = 10–12, red dots). Correlation between FMR1 and CTCF (F) or MAX (G) mRNA expression in MG thymuses. RT-PCR analysis for FMR1 (H), CTCF (I) and MAX (J) in TECs from non-MG thymuses (n = 4–9 from different donors). TEC cultures were stimulated for 24 h with Poly(I:C) (100 μg/ml), IFN-I (1000 UI/ml), IFN-II (1000UI/ml) or IL-6 (10 ng/ml) in RPMI-0.5% horse serum for 24 h. PCRs with absolute quantification were performed for each gene analyzed and data were normalized to the GAPDH. For each experiment with a different TEC culture, the control values were set at 100. p values were assessed with a Mann–Whitney test and for correlation analyses a Spearman's correlation test was done