Fig. 4

Effects of DMF and prednisolone on inflammation responses in the serum and the kidney. (a) Protein level of HO-1 in kidney measured by ELISA. (b) mRNA level of NQO1 measured by quantitative RT-PCR. Data presented are relative mRNA level normalized to GAPDH. (c, d) ELISA kits were used to measure the total immunoglobulins of anti-dsDNA (c) and anti-nRNP (d) in sera. (e) Protein level of MCP-1 in kidney measured by ELISA. (f–j) MCP-1 (f), IL-6 (g), TNF-α (h), Fn1 (i), and TGF-β1 (j) in the kidney measured by quantitative RT-PCR. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 by Dunnett’s parametric test performed versus sham-treated group. n = 5–7 animals per group. DMF dimethyl fumarate, Fn1 fibronectin, HO-1 heme oxygenase-1, IL-6 interleukin-6, MCP-1 monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, NQO1 NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1, TNF-α tumor necrosis factor alpha, TGFβ1 tumor growth factor beta 1