Figure 5

Minocycline inhibited Tax11-19-specific IFN-γ expression in CD8⁺ T cells of patients with HAM/TSP. (A) Representative dot plots of CD107 and IFN-γ expression in CD8⁺ T cells of a HLA-A*201⁺ HAM/TSP patients, stimulated with Tax11-19 peptides. PBMCs were stimulated with Tax 11-19 peptide at concentration of 0, 0.1, 1, 10, 100 ng/ml, and 1 μg/ml for 5 hours. (B) Representative dot plots of Tax11-19 specific CD107 and IFN-γ expression in CD8⁺ T cells of a HAM/TSP patient after treatment with or without 10 μM of minocycline. PBMCs were stimulated with Tax 11-19 peptide at concentration of 0, 10 ng/ml and 1 μg/ml for 5 hours. (C) Inhibitory effects of minocycline on IFN-γ expression, but not degranulation, in CD8⁺ T cells of HAM/TSP patients after stimulation with 1 μg/ml of Tax11-19 peptides. The amounts of CD107a⁺ (closed circles) and CD107a⁺IFN-γ⁺ (opened circles) cells in CD8⁺ T cells cultured without minocycline were normalized to 100%, and then, those in CD8⁺ T cells cultured with minocycline were calculated. The graph was prepared from data obtained from three HLA-A*201⁺ HAM/TSP patients. Tax11-19-specific IFN-γ expression, but not degranulation, in CD8⁺ T cells of HAM/TSP patients was inhibited 40% by minocycline treatment.