Figure 3.

Autoantibody production is increased in SOCS3-cKO mice. SOCS3-cKO mice and SOCS3-WT mice were treated with or without topical imiquimod as described in the Methods section. (A) Anti-dsDNA antibody levels in sera in SOCS3-cKO mice and SOCS3-WT mice at 8 weeks. Data are means±SEM for 11 mice in each group. Data are compiled from two independent experiments. *p<0.05. (B) Shown are representative dot plots of CXCR5 vs PD-1 gated on CD4⁺ T cells (left) and frequency of Tfh cells (CXCR5⁺ PD-1⁺ cells) (right) in spleen in SOCS3-cKO mice and SOCS3-WT mice at 8 weeks. Data are means±SEM for 11 mice in each group. Data are compiled from two independent experiments. *p<0.05. (C) Shown are representative dot plots of Fas vs GL7 gated on B220⁺ B cells (left) and frequency of GC B cells (Fas⁺ GL7⁺ cells) (right) in spleen in SOCS3-cKO mice and SOCS3-WT mice at 8 weeks. Data are means±SEM for 11 mice in each group. Data are compiled from two independent experiments. ***p<0.001. (D) Representative photographs of spleen sections stained with PNA at 8 weeks. (E) Shown are means±SEM of average GC areas (square millimetres × 10⁴) (left) and of the number of GC formation (per square millimetre) (right). Data are means±SEM for 10 mice in each group. Data are compiled from two independent experiments. *p<0.05. Anti-dsDNA, anti-double-strand DNA; GC, germinal centre; IMQ, imiquimod; KO, knockout; PD-1, programmed cell death-1; PNA, peanut agglutinin; SOCS, suppressor of cytokine signalling; WT, wild type.