In Vivo Suppression of Autophagy via Lentiviral shRNA Targeting Atg5 Improves Lupus-Like Syndrome

Figure 1

Lupus-prone mice exhibited a higher level of autophagy. (a) The levels of proteinuria in WT, B6.lpr, and TREM-1^-/-.lpr mice were measured using urine strips at 32 weeks of age. (b) Peripheral blood cells were harvested and stained with AO, and the autophagy levels (percentage of acidic vesicular organelles (AVOs (%)) in the peripheral blood lymphocytes were then analyzed using flow cytometry. (c) The correlation between autophagy levels in peripheral lymphocytes and proteinuria levels was analyzed. (d) The association between autophagy levels in peripheral lymphocytes and anti-dsDNA levels was analyzed. (e) The spleens of 32-week-old mice were excised and homogenized. Levels of autophagy markers, LC3 and Atg5, were measured with western blot. The expression levels of Atg5 and the LC3-II/I ratio were calculated using ImageJ software, and all values were normalized to the WT control group. Mean values were shown by a bar. represents , represents .

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