Journal: Frontiers in Immunology
Article Title: Baseline AHR expression shapes immune response to pharmacological modulation in PBMCs from pancreatic cancer patients
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1655258
Figure Lengend Snippet: AHR pathway modulation alters IL1B, IL4, IL6, and IL10 expression (FC, Luminex) in PDAC PBMCs. Cytokine expression was assessed at mRNA, soluble, and intracellular levels in M1 and M2 monocytes following treatment with Carbidopa, Tapinarof, or BAY. Samples were stratified by baseline AHR expression. CTRL refers to untreated PDAC PBMCs stimulated with LPS but without AHR modulators or tumor co-culture. Healthy indicates LPS-stimulated PBMCs from non-cancer donors, and co-cultured refers to healthy PBMCs indirectly co-cultured with BxPC-3 cells. Sample numbers (n) varied between assays and AHR expression groups due to differences in PBMC yield and viability (typically n = 1–13 for PDAC High/Medium AHR, n = 2–13 for PDAC Low AHR, and n = 11–14 for healthy donors; see for details). Color coding: red = upregulated; blue = downregulated; white = no significant change; ↑/↓ indicate directional changes; Δ – significant vs. CTRL PDAC; *p < 0.05 vs. healthy; **p < 0.05 vs. co-cultured; NS, not significant.
Article Snippet: The concentrations of cytokines IL-1β, IL4, and IL10 were quantified in the culture media collected after 24 h of healthy and PDAC PBMCs incubation using magnetic bead–based multiplex assays (Human Cytokine Premixed Multi-Analyte Kit, R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN, USA) and analyzed using a Luminex 100 analyzer (Luminex Corporation, Cat# L100-XPONENT, Austin, TX, USA; RRID: SCR_018025).
Techniques: Expressing, Luminex, Co-Culture Assay, Cell Culture