Figure 4. Female patients with SLE have higher levels of plasma sCD14, higher proportions of total monocytes and IL-6-producing monocytes compared to female controls ex vivo.

(A) Blood was tested for the proportions of CD14+ monocytes in PBMCs in women in 12 controls and 9 patients with SLE. (B) Blood was tested for the percentage of IL-6-producing monocytes among total monocytes by intracellular staining by flow cytometry in 11 controls and 9 patients. (C) Plasma levels of sCD14 were tested by ELISA (ng/mL) in 10 controls and 15 patients. (D) Geometric mean expression of CD14 on monocytes was tested in 10 controls and 8 patients. All donors were women.