Fig. 5: Dietary nucleic acids promote protein antigen (OVA)-induced oral tolerance through natural IELs.

a–c C57BL/6 mice pre-fed ND or PD without or with NA (0.5% purified nucleic acids) for 6 weeks after their weaning followed by induction of OVA-mediated oral tolerance, then DTH responses were measured (a), the effector cytokines of total spleen cells (b) or serum OVA-specific antibody levels (c) were analyzed by ELISA, n = 5. d–f C57BL/6 mice pre-fed ND or PD for 6 weeks after their weaning, transferred with or without natural CD8αα⁺ IELs in the last 2 weeks, and then followed by induction of OVA-mediated oral tolerance (n = 5), then DTH responses were measured (d), the effector cytokines of total spleen cells (e) or serum OVA-specific antibody levels (f) were analyzed, n = 5. g–i PD-fed mice transferred with TCRγδ⁺ IELs or TCRβ⁺CD8αα⁺ IELs followed by OVA-mediated oral tolerance, then DTH responses were measured (g), the effector cytokines of total spleen cells (h) or serum OVA-specific antibody levels (i) were analyzed, n = 5. j–l WT or MS DKO mice transferred with or without natural CD8αα⁺ IELs followed by OVA-mediated oral tolerance, then DTH responses were measured (j), the effector cytokines of total spleen cells (k) or serum OVA-specific antibody levels (l) were analyzed, n = 5. Data are mean ± s.e.m. and from one experiment representative of two independent experiments (a–l). Statistics: two-tailed Student’s t test. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.