Fig. 2
DEX-induced monocytic MDSC exerts immunosuppressive activity and produces VEGF. CD3+ cells were isolated from lung cancer patients (n = 16) preoperatively and plated at 2 × 105 cells/well in 1 μg/mL of anti-CD3 Abs-coated plates in the presence of (a) CD11b+CD33+HLA-DR− (MDSC), b CD11b+CD33+HLA-DR−CD14+ (M-MDSC) or c CD11b+CD33+HLA-DR−CD14− (G-MDSC) cells (1 × 105 cells/well) sorted from the same lung cancer patient at time of preoperatoin (T0), 1, 3 and 7 days after surgery (T1, T2 and T3). The proliferation of CD3+ cells was measured in triplicate by 3H-thymidine incorporation. d Serum concentration of VEGF in lung cancer patients of Ctrl (n = 16) and DEX (n = 16) group during perioperative period was measured with ELISA. e G-MDSC and f M-MDSC were isolated from lung cancer patients of Ctrl (n = 16) and DEX (n = 16) group during perioperative period and the relative mRNA expression of VEGF was analyzed by RT-qPCR. ru: relative units