Figure 3
Circulating T-cells of SLE/CLE patients proliferate to LL37/cit-LL37. (A,B) Cumulative data of proliferative response of SLE/CLE patients, HD, and control SSc, PSO and RA patients to LL37, control AMPs (HBD3 and HNPs) and PHA (A), and to LL37, cit-LL37 and relative REV control peptides (B), expressed as stimulation indexes (SI), defined as % of BrdU-incorporation of peptide-stimulated cells over % of BrdU-incorporation of untreated cells (33). Number of individuals tested indicated. Values of SI > 3 were considered positive (See Methods). Horizontal bars represent the mean, vertical bars are standard errors of the mean, P-values by Student’s t-test for paired samples. (C,D) LL37-specific T-cell proliferation (SI) plotted against disease activity, SLEDAI (C) and against anti-LL37/cit-LL37 antibody reactivity (OD). Spearman’s coefficient r, significance P, sample size N, indicated. (E) SLEDAI decrease between T0 and T1 in 8 SLE patients responding to therapy (Table S1) and concomitant decline of T-cell reactivity (SI) to native LL37/cit-LL37 (SI), and (F) decline of antibody reactivity as at the same time points. P-values from Wilcoxon signed-rank test.
