Figure 1: αv deletion promotes expansion of plasma cells:

(A) Survival of female and male Tlr7.tg control and αv-CD19.Tlr7 mice. n≥17 mice/ group. (B) Spleen weight from control mice (con), αv-CD19 (αv), control Tlr7.tg (con-Tlr7.tg) and αv-CD19.Tlr7 mice (αv Tlr7.tg). Groups analyzed are 7–8 week old male (n ≥ 6/group) and female (n ≥ 10/group), and 10–12 week old females (n ≥7 mice /group). (C) Spleen B cell frequency in female mice at 7–8 and 10–12 weeks of age (n ≥ 4 mice/ group). (D-G) Splenocytes were gated on CD19⁺ cells and the frequencies of Immature/ Transitional (Imm/Trans), transitional 1 and 2 (T1, T2), Marginal Zone (MZ), Follicular (Fo), and CD24-negative B cells determined by flow cytometry as shown. Analysis of non-tg control and αv-CD19 mice are included for comparison. n=3–6/ group of non-transgenic and 6–10/group of transgenic mice. (H-J) Spleen plasma cells were identified based on CD138 staining and analyzed for intracellular IgG2c, and quantified by percentage of parent population, n=5 for non-transgenic mice and n≥13 / group for transgenic mice (I) or total number of cells/ spleen (n=8 mice/group) (J). Data are presented as data points from individual mice. p-values <0.05 for comparisons between control Tlr7.tg and αv-CD19.Tlr7 mice are shown, and indicated by * (p<0.05) or ** (p<0.01). p-values calculated using log-rank test (survival curves, A) or Mann-Whitney test.