Fig. 3. Zeb2 deficiency impairs ABC formation and alleviates lupus pathogenesis.

(A) Representative plots and frequency of in vitro induced ABCs (CD19⁺CD11c⁺T-bet⁺) derived from splenic B cells of Zeb2^+/+Cd19^Cre/+ (CD19-Ctrl), Zeb2^f/fCd19^+/+ (Floxed-Ctrl), Zeb2^f/+Cd19^cre/+(B-Zeb2^Het), Zeb2^f/fCd19^cre/+(B-Zeb2^KO) mice. (B) Representative plots and frequency of ABCs (CD19⁺CD11c⁺T-bet⁺) in GFP⁺ (infected) and GFP⁻ (uninfected) B cells transduced with empty plasmid, Tbx21 or Zeb2 cDNA sequence. (C and D) Representative plots, frequency and absolute number of splenic ABCs identified by CD19⁺CD23⁻CD11c⁺T-bet⁺ (C) and CD19⁺CD21⁻CD23⁻CD11c⁺CD11b⁺ (D) in IMQ-induced B-Zeb2^KO and Cd19^Cre/+ (Ctrl) mice. (E to G) Spleen weight (E), ANA (F), and anti-dsDNA (G) in serum from mice described in (C and D). (H) The IgG1 and IgG2c antibody titers in the culture supernatants from CD19⁺CD21⁻CD11c⁺ and CD19⁺CD21⁺CD11c⁻ B cells sorted from mice described in (C and D). (I) Autoantigen microarray showing the relative IgG2c-isotype autoantibody levels in the serum of mice described in (C and D). (J) Representative plots and frequency of renal ABCs (CD19⁺CD11c⁺) from mice described in (C and D). (K) H&E staining (right) and pathology assessment (left) of kidneys from mice described in (C and D). (L) The concentration of cytokine and chemokine in the culture supernatants described in (H). n represents distinct samples (biological repeats). Data are representative of 2-3 independent experiments. Data are mean ± SEM values. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001, ns, not significant, unpaired Student’s t test (B, E, H, L for CCL3, CCL4 and CCL5) with Welch’s correction (C, D, G, J, and L for CXCL10 and IFN-γ), Mann–Whitney U test (F and K) and ordinary one-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s multiple comparisons testing (A).