Fig. 4: A_2A receptor agonism reduced the number of pathogenic lymphocytes after disease onset.

a Female MRL/lpr mice were treated with vehicle (n = 10) or agonist (n = 10) twice weekly, starting at 12 weeks of age; splenocytes were analyzed at 20 weeks of age. The zebra plots and graphs show the percentages and numbers of T-bet⁺CD11c⁺CD19⁺ B cells. Statistical significance was determined using either a two-tailed unpaired t-test (left graph) or a Mann–Whitney test (right graph). b Splenocytes and LNs from the mice in a were analyzed by flow cytometry. The contour plots and graphs show the percentages and numbers of CD138⁺B220⁺ cells and CD138⁺B220-negative cells in the spleens and LNs of analyzed mice. Statistical significance was determined using two-tailed unpaired t-tests with the Benjamini, Kieger, and Yekutieli two-stage step-up false discovery rate method. q-values are shown in the graphs. c Splenocytes from the mice in a were analyzed by flow cytometry. The contour plots and graphs show the percentages and numbers of PD-1⁺CXCR5⁺CD4⁺CD3⁺ cells. Statistical significance was determined using a two-tailed unpaired t-test (top graph) or a Mann–Whitney test (bottom graph). Columns and error bars indicate the arithmetic mean and SD.