Autoantibody production and renal pathology in DKO female mice. (A) Serum anti-dsDNA antibody levels of 1-yr-old female (top) and male (bottom) mice (n = 13–17/group). Each dot represents individual mice per group, and horizontal bars indicate mean for each group. Data are representative of two independent experiments. ***, P < 0.005; ns, not statistically significant. (B) Sera from 4 WT and 4 DKO 1-yr-old female mice were subjected to an autoantigen microarray. The data are presented as a heat map, which shows the IgG seroreactivities of each sample toward the individual antigens on the array. Reactivities above the array mean are shown in red, reactivities below the mean are shown in green, and reactivities close to the mean are shown in black. A clustering algorithm was used to cluster together sera that display similar reactivities (top dendrogram) and group together antigens that were targeted in a similar manner by the different sera (left dendrogram). (C, left) Representative H&E-stained sections from the kidneys of 1-yr-old female mice. Photomicrographs were taken at a magnification of 400×. Deposition of immunoglobulin complexes in the glomeruli was detected by immunofluorescence with anti-IgG (middle) and anti-C3 (right) staining. Magnification of 400× is shown. Results are representative of 5–7 mice/group. Bar, 250 µm. (D) The graph shows the renal histopathologic score of the indicated mice (n = 5–8/group). Data are representative of two independent experiments. (E) The graph on the left represents the IgG deposition scores as detected by immunofluorescence, and the graph on the right represents the C3 deposition scores in the glomeruli of the indicated mice (n = 3–7/group). Data are representative of two independent experiments. ***, P < 0.005.