Figure 3

Serum IL-2 results in altered CD144 (VE-cadherin) distribution in the EC cytoskeleton. A) Primary human pulmonary microvascular ECs were treated with paired pre- or post-IL-2 serum, and the rate of dextran flux across an EC monolayer was measured after 24 hr of incubation. Individual data points and mean values ± S.E.M. are shown in the graph. * p was determined using paired t-test. B) Pre- and post-IL-2 serum was cultured with a functional blocking anti-IL-2 antibody or an isotype control IgG for 30 minutes and then used to treat ECs for 24 hr. The effect on the distribution of VE-cadherin and F-actin was examined using confocal microscopy. An image in which Patient 5 serum was used is shown and is representative of 4 patients tested. C) Data from (B) were quantified using imagej64 software (NIH). VE-cadherin and F-actin intracellular redistribution (i.e., intracellular intensity in arbitrary units) is shown. Gray line indicates image background intensity. Data represent two independent experiments.