Fig. 3.

Peli1 deficiency specifically in B cells promotes autoimmunity in vivo. a Scheme showing how the μMT chimeric mice were constructed for immunization. b Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) of NP-specific IgG1, IgG2a, IgG2b, and IgG3 in the serum of WT/μMT and Peli1-deficient (KO)/μMT chimeric mice that immunized intraperitoneally with vehicle (sham) or NP-KLH (KLH). c WT/μMT and KO/μMT chimeric mice were intraperitoneally injected with 7.5 million of CD4 + T cell from C57BL/6 mice (control) or from BM12 mice. Representative immunofluorescent images showing IgG deposits in kidney by staining with Alexa Fluor 488-labeled anti-mouse IgG. Scale bar, 100 μm. d, e Flow cytometric analysis of the percentages of Fas⁺GL-7⁺ germinal center (GC) B cells and CD19⁻CD138⁺ plasma cells in immunized WT/μMT and KO/μMT chimeric mice as described in (c). Data are presented as the representative FACS plots (d) and summary graphs (e). f Distinct anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) staining patterns of the Hep-2 cell line with serum from WT/μMT and KO/μMT chimeric mice 4 weeks after immunization as described in (c). Ctr represents control in the right panel bar graph. Scale bar, 50 μm. g Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) of anti-dsDNA, anti-ssDNA, and anti-histone IgG in serum from immunized WT/μMT and KO/μMT chimeric mice as described in (c) at the indicate time point. Data are shown as the mean ± SEM based on three independent experiments. Two-tailed Student’s t-tests were performed. *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01