Fig. 2: Autoantibody-mediated neutralization of ACBP/DBI prevents Cushing’s syndrome.
From: Pathogenic role of acyl coenzyme A binding protein (ACBP) in Cushing’s syndrome
a, The experimental schedule of CORT administration in auto-immunized C57BL/6J female mice against ACBP/DBI. Female C57BL/6J mice were treated with KLH–ACBP for autoimmunization or KLH alone, both administered intraperitoneally for 4 weeks (n = 10 mice per group). One week later, mice received CORT (100 μg ml−1) or vehicle control (control) in drinking water orally (p.o.) for an additional 5 weeks (n = 10 mice per group). b, Plasma levels of ACBP were measured by ELISA. c–e, Hepatic ACBP and NR3C1 were analysed by immunoblot. Representative blots (c) and quantifications of the indicated protein ratios (d and e) are shown (n = 3 per group). β-Actin was used as a loading control. f,g, The average food intake (n = 4 cages per group) (f) and body weight (n = 10 mice per group) (g) was monitored in the indicated groups. The P value represents the comparison of areas under the curve. h,i, Representative frontal and longitudinal photographs of one mouse of each group are shown (h), and facial angles were measured (i) at the end of week 5 (n = 3 mice per group). The lines indicate the measurement of the facial angle in mice. j, The heatmap shows the standardized deviations (z scores) of tissue weights relative to body weight and the quantification of various biochemical parameters across the treatment groups (n = 10 per group). vWAT, visceral white adipose tissue; iWAT, inguinal white adipose tissue; pWAT, perigonadal white adipose tissue; iBAT, interscapular brown adipose tissue. Statistical comparisons were performed by pairwise (two-tailed) Wilcoxon test with false discovery rate correction for multiple comparisons (P values are indicated). k–n, GTT (n = 10 mice per group) (k) and ITT (n = 10 mice per group) (m) were monitored in the indicated groups. The P value represents the comparison of areas under the curve (GTT (l) and ITT (n)). All dot plots depict mean ± s.e.m. The curves in f and g were longitudinally analysed with type II ANOVA and pairwise comparisons. The data in b, d, e, i, l and n were analysed using one-way ANOVA with Tukey correction.
