Table 3.

Gene and protein expression relevant to IL17 and BLyS pathways and other clinical variables in SLE patient subsets with or without a type I interferon signature.

	IFN High n=49	IFN Low n=46	p-value1
Gene expression (mean ΔCt vs. healthy controls)2
TNFSF13b (BLyS)	1.41	2.55	0.003
IL17RA	1.37	1.59	0.01
IL23A	2.23	2.27	0.77
Inflammatory mediators (mean pg/mL)
BLyS	1539.4	908.2	0.0001
IL23p19	0.229	0.019	0.01
Autoantibodies (% positive)
anti-dsDNA	30	2	0.0001
anti-Ro	30	4	0.0007
anti-Sm	13	0	0.01
anti-RNP	37	0	0.0001
Disease Activity (mean)
SLEDAI	9.73	7.70	0.009
BILAG	16.5	14.0	0.04

¹Gene expression was compared in 95 patients with evaluable RNA samples by ANCOVA with batch, RIN, and % neutrophils as covariates, with t-test to compare IFN high to IFN low. Other values were compared by ANOVA (protein concentration), Fishers Exact Test (autoantibodies), or t-test (disease activity scores).

²Lower number indicates higher gene expression.