Figure 2. LAG-3-deficient B6.SJL mice display an increased susceptibility to mercury-induced autoimmunity.
(A) Wild-type or Lag-3−/− B6.SJL mice were challenged with 3 weekly s.c. injections of 30 µg HgCl2/mouse during four weeks for a total of 12 injections. Serum Ig and autoantibodies were measured as described in the Material and Method section (n = 5 or 6). The levels of Ig depicted at week 0 represent the baseline levels in untreated LAG-3−/− and WT mice whereas the untreated mice in both groups had no detectable autoantibodies. (B) Mice from this experiment were sacrificed after 4 weeks. Their kidney sections were stained with goat anti-mouse IgG-FITC to detect IgG deposits (n = 5). Negative control depicts the staining of kidney section obtained from 3 week old untreated B6.SJL mice. The extent of kidney disease was scored depending on the amount and intensity of IgG staining as described in details in Material and Method section. To determine statistical significance between the groups of fig. 2A and 2B two way ANOVA was used where *indicates p<0.05, **indicates p<0.005 and ***indicates p<0.0001.