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. 2014 Jul 11;142(4):573–580. doi: 10.1111/imm.12263

Figure 2.

Figure 2

Oestrogen treatment increased interleukin-21 (IL-21) expression in CD4+ T cells of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients in a dose- and time-dependent manner. (a, b) Isolated CD4+ T cells were treated with 10, 100 and 1000 nm 17β-oestradiol for 48 hr. The mRNA expression of IL-21 was measured by RT-PCR (a). The concentration of IL-21 in the supernatant was determined by ELISA (b). (c) CD4+ T cells were cultured with 1000 nm 17β-oestradiol for 24, 48 and 72 hr. The concentration of IL-21 in the supernatant was determined by ELISA. Data are expressed as means ± SD of three independent experiments using cells obtained from three patients and three healthy controls. (*P < 0·05, **P < 0·01, versus untreated cells of SLE patients).