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

Figure 4.

Figure 4

Signalling pathways involved in oestrogen-induced interleukin 21 (IL-21) production. (a) Isolated CD4+ T cells from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients were pre-treated with 20 μm PD98509, 10 μm SB203850, 1 μm SP600125, 20 μm LY294002, 50 μm AG490, 50 μm BAY 11, or 10 μm curcumin for 2 hr, and then cultured with 1000 nm of 17β-oestradiol for 48 hr. The concentration of IL-21 in the supernatant was measured by ELISA. Data are expressed as means ± SD of three independent experiments using cells obtained from three different patients. (b) CD4+ T cells from SLE patients were treated with 1000 nm 17β-oestradiol for 20 min. Phosphorylated forms of mitogen-activated protein kinases were measured by Western blot analysis. The representative Western blots of three independent experiments using cells from three different patients are shown. (*P < 0·05, **P < 0·01).