Renal and pulmonary involvement in fully established pristane-induced lupus (PIL).

A, B, C, The summative kidney biopsy score and the glomerular activity score of wildtype lupus PIL^+/+ was significantly higher than that of mir155-deficient PIL^-/-, while there was no difference in the chronic lesion score. D, E, F, If affected, PIL^-/- showed only mild mesangial glomerulonephritis. PIL^+/+ had more severe renal manifestation with increased cellularity and hyaline deposits (black arrow). 40% of PIL^+/+, but no PIL^-/-, fulfilled the criteria for proliferative glomerulonephritis, while controls were not affected. G, H, I, Although all PIL mice showed at least some pulmonary pathology, the inflammatory perivascular area as well as the area of peribronchial and total pulmonary inflammation were greater in PIL^+/+ than in PIL^-/-, while controls were not affected. J, K, L, Typical examples show the marked pulmonary inflammation in PIL^+/+ compared to PIL^-/- or controls; PIL^+/+ also had considerable hemosiderin deposits as a late consequence of intrapulmonary bleeding (white arrow). Results are representative of 2 independent experiments upon analysis at 8 months after disease induction. PIL were injected with pristane, CO with PBS; +/+ stands for wild type, -/- for miR155-deficient knockouts; bars show mean with SD, * = p< 0.05.