Fig. 5.

Correlations between DNA methylation level and clinical parameters

(A) Higher CD3Z methylation was related to higher SLEDAI, proteinuria, thrombocytopenia (TCP), haemolytic anaemia (HA) and a higher anti-dsDNA titer (α-DNA). Median values were used to divide the SLEDAI and anti-dsDNA titre subgroups. (B) VHL methylation was not correlated with any of the clinical manifestations. (C) The CD3Z methylation level was significantly higher in the high-dose CS-treated subgroup (highS; prednisolone >10 mg/day, P = 0.002) and immunosuppressant-treated subgroup (Imm; P = 0.009) than that in the low-dose CS-treated subgroup (lowS; prednisolone ≤10 mg/day). (D) VHL methylation levels were not different among the three treatment subgroups. Horizontal lines are median M/UM values, where M is height of the methylated cytosine peak, and UM is that of the unmethylated cytosine peak, in the methylation single-base extension results. Case number (N) is shown.