Figure 2. Lupus glomerulonephritis and characteristics of an autoimmune phenotype in mice with DC but not macrophage or T-cell Abca1/g1 deficiency.

Mice were fed chow diet for 40 weeks and kidneys, plasma, and lymph nodes (LNs) were collected. Kidneys were embedded in paraffin, sectioned and stained with H&E and PAS or frozen in OCT, sectioned, and stained as indicated. (A) Glomerulonephritis in DC-ABC^DKO mice. Wire loop deposits (middle panel), infiltrating leukocytes (upper arrow, lower panel) and mesangial hypercellularity (lower arrow, lower panel) are indicated. (B) and (C) No glomerulonephritis phenotype in MAC-ABC^DKO (B) and T-ABC^DKO (C) mice. (D) Immunoglobulin (IgG, IgM, IgA) and complement components 1 and 3 (C1 and C3) deposits are increased in glomeruli of DC-ABC^DKO mice. (A) are representative pictures of n=10 mice; (B–D) are representative pictures of n=5 mice. (E) Increased plasma levels of auto-antibodies to dsDNA in DC-ABC^DKO, but not MAC-ABC^DKO or T-ABC^DKO mice. n=6–10. ***P<0.001 by one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post-test. (F) Increased lymph node mass in DC-ABC^DKO, but not MAC-ABC^DKO or T-ABC^DKO mice. n=4–8. ***P<0.001 by one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post-test. Data in E–F are presented as mean ± SEM. See also Figure S1.