Figure 2

Renal autoantigen reactive CD4⁺ T cells are expanded in active LN patients. (a) Depiction of an example dot plot of CD3⁺CD4⁺ T cells from an active LN patient (top) and an HC (bottom). Cells were stimulated with Ag–P and subsequently enriched for CD154 via magnetic beads (ARTE method). Numbers indicate the cell count. (b) Calculated frequencies of CD69⁺, IFN-γ⁺, IL-4⁺, IL-10⁺, IL-17⁺ autoreactive CD154⁺ Tcons for active LN patients (n = 8), inactive SLE patients (n = 6) and HCs (n = 6). Horizontal lines depict the median. (c) Correlation of CD154⁺IFN-γ⁺ and CD154⁺IL-10⁺ Tcons with disease activity (SLEDAI, n = 14). The Mann–Whitney test was used for statistical analysis in (b), Spearman´s rank correlation in c. (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01; r = Spearman´s rank correlation coefficient). Ag–P contained VIM, ANXA1, ANXA2, RPLP1 and RPLP2. ARTE antigen reactive T cell enrichment, No Ag no antigen, Ag–P antigen pool, LN lupus nephritis, SLE systemic lupus erythematosus, HC healthy control, SLEDAI systemic lupus disease activity index, PBMC peripheral blood mononuclear cells, Tcon conventional CD3- and CD4-positive T cells, VIM Vimentin, ANXA1 Annexin A1, ANXA2 Annexin A2, RPLP1 Ribosomal Protein P1, RPLP2 Ribosomal Protein P2.