Fig 2. Flow cytometry analysis of lymphocyte subsets at 8 months after disease induction.

A, B, C, MiR155-deficient PIL^-/- mice had lower frequencies of CD19⁺ B-cells, total CD4⁺ and CD4⁺CD25⁺FoxP3- activated T_effector-cells compared to the WT lupus group PIL^+/+. D, Frequencies of CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ regulatory T cells (T_reg) were reduced in PIL^+/+ compared to the respective control group (CO^+/+). T_reg were even lower in both miR155 knockout groups (PIL^-/- and CO^-/-) without intergroup differences. E, F, G, Upon in vitro restimulation, PIL^+/+ had significant higher frequencies of CD4⁺IL-4⁺ Th2 and CD4⁺IL-17⁺ Th17 cells compared to PIL^-/- and CO^+/+, a similar, albeit not significant trend was observed for CD4⁺IFNγ Th1 cells when comparing PIL^+/+ to PIL^-/-. See also Table 1 for exact numbers and p values. Results are representative of 2 independent experiments. PIL were induced with pristane, CO with PBS; ^+/+ stands for wild type, ^-/- for miR155-deficient knockouts; bars show mean with SD. * = P < 0.05, by Mann-Whitney test.