Identification and distribution of peripheral blood DCs.

(A) PBMCs were gated and at least 50 000 events were acquired per sample. B cells, T cells, monocytes, and natural killer cells were detected with a cocktail of lineage-specific antibodies (lineage-marker) in FL-2. DCs were detected as lineage marker–negative cells with an isotype control antibody or anti–HLA-DR antibody in FL-1. Shown are examples of HLA-DR⁺ DCs in one healthy child (upper panel) and in 2 children suffering from severe malaria (middle and lower panels). (B) The boxplots indicate median and 25% and 75% percentiles for the percentage of CD83⁺ cells or HLA-DR⁺ DCs in healthy children and in children with severe or mild malaria. Outliers are indicated by open circles and extreme values are indicated by stars.