Fig. 2

Foxp3 transduction improved the immunosuppressive activity of MSC and induced the expansion of Foxp3⁺ Tregs. a The immunogenicity of Foxp3-MSC and effect of Foxp3-MSC on T cell proliferative response in vitro. Results are mean ± SE of three independent experiments. *p < 0.05 vs PBS; ^# p < 0.05 vs MSC; ^& p < 0.05 vs Foxp3-MSC. b Foxp3 transduction significantly improved the immunosuppressive activity of MSC. Results are mean ± SE of three independent experiments. *p < 0.05 vs MSC. c The expression of cell surface molecule in MSCs altered by Foxp3 transduction. Isotype FUGW-MSC are represented by open histograms and Foxp3-MSC by closed histograms. d, e Blocking experiments with neutralizing mAb of Nrp-1 and PD-L1 on CD4⁺ T cell proliferative response. Results are representative of three independent experiments. *p < 0.05 vs PBS; ^# p < 0.05 vs Foxp3-MSC + IgG. f Frequency of CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ T cells. Results are representative of five independent experiments. *p < 0.05 vs PBS; ^# p < 0.05 vs MSC. g Representative dot plots of CD25 and Foxp3 staining of CD4⁺-gated cells. Percentages of CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ T cells are indicated in the top right corners of each dot plot