Figure 13.

Suppression of annexin II expression in HMC by RNAi reduces anti-dsDNA antibody induction of annexin II synthesis and IL-6 secretion. (A) Whole cell lysates extracted from transfected and nontransfected HMC after 24 hours of incubation with SFM, control IgG, or anti-DNA antibodies were subjected to Western blot and probed with monoclonal anti-human annexin II normalized to β-actin. (B) IL-6 secretion was measured in HMC incubated with SFM, control IgG, or a panel of 15 different anti-dsDNA antibodies with or without annexin II gene silencing. Knockdown of annexin II expression was accompanied by reduced IL-6 induction in HMC stimulated with anti-dsDNA antibodies. The reduction in IL-6 stimulation applied to both anti-dsDNA antibodies obtained during remission (○) and those obtained during disease flares (●) as shown in C. The horizontal line in each group in B and C denotes the mean IL-6 level. (C) The dashed line represents the basal level of IL-6 secretion. *P < 0.01 for the comparison of samples within the same group; #P < 0.05 for RNAi versus no treatment or RNAi negative control.