Fig. 2

Overlapping between PLD4 + blasts and DN2 cells. A Flow cytometry plots assessing the ratios of DN2 cells in each denoted population in a representative patient with SLE. B Histograms showing the positivity of intracellular T-bet in each denoted population in a representative patient with SLE. C The correlation between the ratios of PLD4 + blast and DN2 cells was assessed. D Representative plot in which DN2 cells were assessed by PLD4 and FSC-A. E–G The patients with SLE were divided as were in Fig. 1G, and the ratios of those with nephritis (E) and the titers of anti-Sm antibodies (F) or anti-dsDNA antibodies (G) were compared between the two groups. ***P < 0.005, ns, not significant. H In 11 patients with newly-onset SLE, the ratios of PLD4 + blasts were analyzed before and after immunosuppressive therapies. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.005, by Fisher’s exact test and Mann–Whitney U test in E, F and G, and by Wilcoxon’s signed-rank test in H. In C, Spearman rank correlation coefficient (ρ) and P values are shown, and the gray shade areas represent the 95% confidence interval of the regression line. ns, not significant