Figure 1.

Amelioration of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)-like symptoms in Lyn^–/– mice by heat shock protein gp96 immunization

(A) Female Lyn^–/– mice at 16 weeks old were immunized with 200 μg gp96 or saline as control (n = 5/group). Serum anti-dsDNA antibodies were determined using ELISA in Lyn^–/– mice 1 week after the last immunization.

(B–E) FACS analysis of Foxp3⁺CD4⁺ Treg cells (B), CXCR5⁺PD-1⁺Foxp3⁺ Tfr cells, (C), CXCR5⁺PD1⁺Foxp3^– Tfh cells (D) and activated conventional CD4⁺ T cells (CD44^hi CD62L^low) (E) in the spleen of mice immunized at 16 weeks of age.

(F–H) FACS analysis of germinal center B cells (F), plasma cells (G) from the spleen, and memory B cells (H) from bone marrow.

(I) Absolute numbers of anti-dsDNA-specific antibody-secreting cells (ASCs) were determined using ELISPOT.

(J) Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of kidney sections from 32-week-old Lyn^–/– mice of indicated groups. Bar, 50 μm.

(K and L) Foxp3-GFP knock-in (KI) mice were immunized as in (K), and then Foxp3⁺ Treg cells were sorted and adoptively transferred into Lyn^–/– mice. Serum was collected at the indicated times. Serum anti-dsDNA antibodies were determined using ELISA (L). The data are representative of two independent experiments with similar results. n = 5 mice/group. Mean ± SD is shown. The Student's t-test was used for statistical analysis. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.