Fig. 3.

The expression of BAFF receptors by human mesangial cells. a Total RNA was extracted from human mesangial cells and analyzed for expression of BAFF-R, TACI, BCMA and BAFF, normalized to GAPDH expression, by real-time PCR. b The presence of BAFF-R on the surface of human mesangial cells was detected with BAFF-R antibody by flow cytometry. Background signal is presented as a gray line, and BAFF-R signal is presented as a blue line. c Cytosolic protein fraction (indicated as c) and membrane protein fraction (indicated as m) were prepared from human mesangial cells and subjected to western blot analysis. Whole protein lysate of activated human CD19⁺ B cells was loaded as a positive control for expression of BAFF-R. Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase and Erk kinase represented membrane and cytosolic proteins respectively