Fig. 5: Overexpression of WDFY3 mitigates autoimmune responses in mice receiving systemic AC injections.

a Schematics of study design. Age- and sex-matched Ctrl and hWDFY3^KI/KI littermates were used for experiments. ACs were prepared and injected as illustrated and as described in Fig. 1a. Serum samples were collected to determine markers of organ dysfunction and autoantibodies. Kidneys were dissected and sectioned for PAS and immunofluorescence staining. b Serum ALT. n = 7 Ctrl vs 6 hWDFY3^KI/KI mice. c Serum creatinine. n = 7 Ctrl vs 5 hWDFY3^KI/KI mice. d Serum ANA total Ig. n = 8 Ctrl vs 5 hWDFY3^KI/KI mice. e Serum anti-dsDNA total Ig. n = 8 Ctrl vs 6 hWDFY3^KI/KI mice. f PAS staining of kidney sections for the quantification of glomerular size. n = 7 Ctrl vs 6 hWDFY3^KI/KI mice. Scale bar = 25 μm. g, h Immunofluorescence staining of kidney sections using anti-C1q and anti-IgG antibodies (red) and WGA (green) to outline glomeruli. Mean fluorescent intensity (MFI) of C1q (g) and IgG (h) in the glomeruli area were quantified. n = 7 Ctrl vs 6 hWDFY3^KI/KI mice. NC negative control. Scale bar = 100 μm. Data are shown as mean ± SEM. A two-tailed Student’s t-test was applied to all data.