FIGURE 5.

TRAF5 expression is associated with inflammation in active systemic lupus erythematosus. A, CD4⁺ T cells were isolated from the peripheral blood of SLE patients and healthy donors. IL-17A, IL-17F, IL-21, IL-23R, RORγt, and TRAF5 mRNA levels were detected via quantitative RT-PCR analysis normalized to the housekeeping gene β-actin. B, the correlation between TRAF5 and IL-17A was analyzed by GraphPad Prism on the basis of the data in A. C, the samples from SLE patients were divided into two groups on the basis of the SLEDAI. Data represent at least two independent experiments, and error bars show mean ± S.D.