Fig. 8

ΔE^BAB mice do not show any autoimmune phenotype. a Flow cytometric analysis of CD62L versus CD44 populations in CD4⁺ or CD8⁺ splenic T cell. The number in the plot is representative percentage of each gate. For CD4⁺ T cells, gates indicate activated (CD44^highCD62L^low) and naïve (CD44^lowCD62L^high) populations. For CD8⁺ T cells, activated effector memory (CD44^highCD62L^low), activated central memory (CD44^highCD62L^high) and naïve (CD44^lowCD62L^high) populations are gated. Data are representative of four independent experiments (n = 5 for WT and E^BAB+/− mice, n = 6 for ΔE^BAB mice from WT & E^BAB+/−–ΔE^BAB littermate pairs and trios, 30–34 weeks old). b, c Activated CD4⁺ (b) and CD8⁺ (c) proportions of aged mice. Data are pooled from four independent experiments (n = 5 for WT and E^BAB+/− mice, n = 6 for ΔE^BAB mice from WT and E^BAB+/−–ΔE^BAB littermate pairs and trios, 30–34 weeks old). d The mean (±s.e.m.) clinical scores at the days after EAE was induced in WT (control) (n = 10) and ΔE^BAB mice (n = 8). The incidence of EAE: control 10/10, ΔE^BAB 8/8. No data point showed statistically significant difference between WT and ΔE^BAB (i.e., unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test P ≥ 0.05). e Representative pictures for Hematoxylin and Eosin staining for the lung, liver, kidney, and pancreas of two independent experiments (n = 2 WT and E^BAB+/−–ΔE^BAB littermate pairs, 30–31 weeks old). The scale bars represent 100 μm. Each symbol in (b, c) represents an individual mouse; small horizontal lines indicate the mean. n.s. not significant (P ≥ 0.05) (unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test)