Fig. 3. Upregulation of APOE with immune modulation function in Mac_LIPA of L-LEP.

a Expression of APOE in each cluster was obtained by the sub-clustering of skin DC/Mac cells. UMI, unique molecular identifier. b Expression of APOE, MIF, and HLA-DQB2 in Mac_LIPA cells of each sample. c Expression of APOE in Mac_LIPA cells by cases and controls of the discovery cohort. d The average expression level of APOE was negatively correlated with MIF and HLA-DQB2 expression, respectively (Pearson’s correlation analysis). Each dot represents a donor. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) and P value were indicated. e Expression of APOE in the skin by cases and controls of validation cohort 1 as determined by bRNA-seq. FPKM, fragments per kilobase of exon model per million mapped fragments. f mIHC showing the co-localization of APOE and macrophages marker CD68 in L-LEP lesions. The cell nucleus was stained by diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI). g ApoE protein concentration in the supernatant of human monocyte-derived macrophages infected with/without Mlep. ApoE protein concentration was measured by ELISA at 12, 24, 36, and 48 h after infection with Mlep. P value was calculated using a two-sided unpaired Student’s t test.