Endothelial-immune crosstalk contributes to vasculopathy in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (2022)
Figure 5

Figure 5. Characterizations of endothelial-immune interactions.

(a) Left: Workflow schematic of adhesion assay. Middle: Representative images of labeled THP-1 and Jurkat cells attached to BOEC monolayers (Scale bars, 100 µm). Right: Box-whisker plots of the numbers of adhered leukocytes were determined fluorometrically. Sample sizes are n = 9 NAFLD and n = 7 healthy, with 3 biological replicates per donor. Box-whisker plots indicate median (middle line), 25th, 75th percentile (box) and the lowest/ highest data points (whiskers). *p<0.05; ****p<0.0001; ns, non-significant (two-way ANOVA).

(b) Left: Schematic of chemotaxis assay. Right: Box-whisker plots of the numbers of recruited THP-1 and Jurkat cells by the BOECs. Box-whisker plots indicate median (middle line), 25th, 75th percentile (box) and the lowest/ highest data points (whiskers). ns, non-significant (t-test). Sample size is n = 5 donors; *p<0.05; ns, non-significant (t-test).

(c) CD8+ T cells and CD8- cell fractions were isolated from NAFLD and healthy subjects. Box-whisker plots show the number of recruited immune cells to their respective BOECs matched by health condition in coculture chemotaxis assays. Box-whisker plots indicate median (middle line), 25th, 75th percentile (box) and the lowest/ highest data points (whiskers). ns, non-significant (t-test). Sample sizes are n = 11 NAFLD and n = 6 healthy, with 3-4 technical replicates per donor. *p<0.05; ns, non-significant (Mann-Whitney).

(d) Box-whisker plots show percentages of inhibition on immune cells chemotaxis by treatment with AMD3100 (CXCR4 small molecule inhibitor). Box-whisker plots indicate median (middle line), 25th, 75th percentile (box) and the lowest/ highest data points (whiskers). ns, non-significant (t-test). Sample sizes are n = 6 NAFLD and n = 4 healthy, with 3-4 technical replicates per donor. ****p<0.0001; ns, non-significant (two-way ANOVA).

(e) Box-whisker plots show percentages of inhibition on immune cells chemotaxis by treatment with anti-CXCL12 IgG (CXCL12 neutralizing antibody). Box-whisker plots indicate median (middle line), 25th, 75th percentile (box) and the lowest/ highest data points (whiskers). ns, non-significant (t-test). Sample sizes are n = 5 NAFLD and n = 3 healthy, with 3-4 technical replicates per donor. ****p<0.0001; ns, non-significant (two-way ANOVA).

(f) Left: Schematic of transendothelial migration assay with patient-derived BOECs and immune cells. Right: Transendothelial electric resistance (TEER) measurements of BOEC barrier tightness in the presence and absence of PBMCs and/or AMD3100. Box-whisker plots indicate median (middle line), 25th, 75th percentile (box) and the lowest/ highest data points (whiskers). ns, non-significant (t-test). Sample size is n = 5 patient samples, with 3 technical TEER readings recorded per sample. ****p<0.0001; ns, non-significant (one-way ANOVA).

(g) Box-whisker plots of the numbers of circulating endothelial cells per million PBMCs in healthy (n = 6) and NAFLD subjects (n = 11). Box-whisker plots indicate median (middle line), 25th, 75th percentile (box) and the lowest/ highest data points (whiskers). ns, non-significant (t-test). *p<0.05 (Mann-Whitney test).