Figure 6.

Cytokine profile of α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer) expanded natural killer T (NKT) cells. Peripheral blood (PB) mononuclear cells (1.5 × 10⁶ cells/well) from five healthy control individuals and five RA patients as well as synovial fluid (SF) mononuclear cells from five RA patients were stimulated with α-GalCer and re-stimulated on day 7 with autologous, α-GalCer pulsed, irradiated PB mononuclear cells in the presence of 2 U/ml IL-2. The cytokine profile was analyzed by intracellular staining and gating on the Vα24⁺ subset. Error bars indicate standard error of the mean. *P < 0.05.