Fig. 3: PD-L1^highSca-1⁺ cells are a novel IL-10-producing splenic ILC subset.

a Surface marker protein expression profiling of the ratio of IL-10⁺ and IL-10⁻ from splenic ILCs. Heatmap depicting the ratio of IL-10⁺/IL-10⁻ ILCs obtained by flow cytometric analysis. b Representative flow cytometry images of each surface marker on IL-10⁺ versus IL-10⁻ ILCs. The results are presented as representative images from five independent experiments (a, b). c, d Representative plot images (c) and histograms (d) showing PD-L1^highSca1⁺, PD-L1^low/−Sca-1⁺, and PD-L1^low/−Sca-1⁻ subsets of IL-10⁺ and IL-10⁻ splenic ILCs (n = 8) from four independent experiments (n = 2 per group for each experiment). **p < 0.01, and n.s., not significant according to Student’s t test. e, f Representative plot images (e) and histograms (f) showing the frequency of IL-10⁺ ILCs among PD-L1^highSca1⁺, PD-L1^low/−Sca-1⁺, and PD-L1^low/−Sca-1⁻ ILC subsets (n = 8) from four independent experiments (n = 2 per group for each experiment). **p < 0.01 versus the PD-L1^low/−Sca-1⁻ group according to Student’s t test. g, h Relative mean fluorescence intensities (MFIs) of T-bet, GATA-3 and RORγt in the indicated ILC subsets (three independent experiments; n = 3 per group for each experiment). **p < 0.01 and n.s., not significant versus the IL-10⁻ or PD-L1^low/−Sca-1⁻ group according to Student’s t test. i The histograms show the mRNA expression levels of Tbx21, Gata3 and Rorc in the PD-L1^highSca1⁺ and PD-L1^low/−Sca-1⁻ ILC subsets (n = 4). The data are expressed as the mean ± SEM from four independent experiments. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and n.s., not significant versus the PD-L1^low/−Sca-1⁻ group according to Student’s t test.