Faslpr mice

MRL.Fas^lpr/+ mice were obtained from the Jackson Laboratory and backcrossed onto a MRL background. Females (n = 8/group) were intraperitoneally administrated with either TAT-CID or TAT-Ctrl peptides (40 mg/kg) starting at 8 weeks of age, twice weekly for 5 weeks. After re-stimulation of CD4⁺ cell populations with anti-CD3, cell culture supernatants were dosed for IL-17A and IFN-γ by ELISA, and qPCR analysis of purified cell population was also performed as mentioned above. Kidneys were fixed into 4% PFA overnight prior to being placed in ethanol, sectioned, and stained. Scoring was conducted by an individual blind to the objective/treatments within the study as per (Kikawada et al., 2003 (link)). FITC-conjugated rabbit anti-C3 polyclonal antibody (Dako) and nuclei (DAPI, sigma-aldrich) staining was performed on frozen kidney sections, and results were analyzed with NIKON Ni-E (magnification × 200). C3 accumulation in kidneys was assessed by densitometric analysis of ten different fields via NIS-Elements AR Analysis software.

Female MRL.Fas^lpr mice were purchased from the Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, MA, USA). Mice were housed in specific pathogen-free conditions at 21–24°C and 40–60% relative humidity under a 12 h light/dark cycle. Female MRL.Fas^lpr mice were injected intravenously with PBS (vehicle, n = 6) or 4 × 10⁵ hMSCs/mouse (n = 6) once at the age of 12 weeks [14 (link)]. Survival rate and body weight were examined every week. Serum was collected every 3 weeks and stored at −70°C until use. The levels of anti-dsDNA IgG and total IgG in serum were measured by using ELISA kits purchased from Alpha Diagnostic International (San Antonio, TX, USA) and eBiosciences (San Diego, CA, USA), respectively, according to the manufacturers' instructions. All animal studies were approved by the Chungbuk National University Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee and were carried out in accordance with the approved guidelines.

Fas^lpr mice were purchased from The Jackson Laboratory and bred in our animal facility. Only female mice (ICR and Fas^lpr mice) were used in this study, and they were housed in the SingHealth Experimental Medicine Centre under specific pathogen-free conditions. In this study, 6-week-old mice were considered to represent pre-onset SLE, while 16-week-old mice represented the severe stages of SLE. The animals were fed gamma-irradiated commercial rodent feed, and the facility used autoclaved water. The animals were given access to feed and water ad libitum. The environmental conditions were controlled with a temperature of 22 ± 2 °C, a relative humidity less than 70%, and a 12:12-h light: dark cycle. All cages were assembled with bedding and furniture before being autoclaved, the cages were changed every two weeks and/or whenever necessary as determined by the research personnel or animal care team.