Fig. 1
Comparison of serum lipid profile between SLE patients and heathy controls. a Fasting levels of total cholesterol, triglyceride (TG), HDL, and LDL were compared between SLE patients (n = 35) and HCs (n = 15). SLE patients had higher levels of TG and lower levels of HDL than HCs. b The serum activity of CETP was significantly higher in SLE patients than in HCs. c Equivalent amounts of HDL2, HDL3, and LDL pooled from SLE (n = 19) patients and HCs (n = 8) were subjected to SDS-PAGE (6% gels for HDL2 and HDL3 and 15% gels for LDL). HDL2 and HDL3 ran as a single band which was identified as apoA-I on Western blot (WB). The intensity of the band of apoA-I was weaker in SLE samples than in HC samples (left and middle panels). The proteins derived from SLE-LDL ran as multiple fragments (right panel, arrow), whereas HC-LDL ran as a single band. The numbers under the bands represent the relative band intensity whereas the intensity of SLE bands was set as 1.00). Results are representative of three independent experiments. Data are expressed as the mean and SEM. CETP cholesterol ester transfer protein, M markers, HC healthy control, SLE systemic lupus erythematosus