Figure 8.

Autoimmune characterization of Hnf4^ΔTEC mice. (A–C) Hnf4^Ctrl and Hnf4^ΔTEC mice (littermates, males) were aged 15–17 wk, then assessed for their (A) body weights, (B) colon lengths, and (C) spleen weights (normalized to body weight). (D–G) Activation status of splenic (D) CD4⁺ Foxp3⁻, (E) CD4⁺Foxp3⁺, and (F and G) CD8⁺ T cells from mice aged as described in A–C. (H) Autoantibody titers in serum from mice aged as described in A–C compared with serum from sex- and age-matched Aire^−/− mice as a positive control. Titers were normalized such that mean signal in serum from Rag1^−/− mice was set to zero. (I) Histological disease score of immunocyte infiltration and tissue destruction of the indicated organs in mice aged as described in A–C. Scores ranged from 0 (no disease) to 4 (severe infiltration and tissue destruction). For A–I, each dot represents one mouse, bars show mean ± SEM, data were pooled from three to four independent experiments, and P values were calculated by unpaired, two-sided Student’s t test. (J) Weights of 6-wk-old Hnf4^Ctrl (n = 5) and Hnf4^ΔTEC (n = 5) mice exposed to 2.5% DSS in the drinking water. Dots show mean weights for each condition, bars show SEM, P value for the difference between genotypes was calculated by two-way ANOVA, and data are representative of two independent experiments. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01.