Study design
The
experimental grouping of mice was
shown in Table S1. Thirty-six R848-induced B6 mice were randomly divided
into 4 groups (n= 9 in each group): normal saline treatment group, SBI
treatment group, MSCs treatment group, and
SBI plus MSCs treatment group.
Umbilical cord derived MSCs were kindly provided by the Stem Cell Bank
of Jiangsu Province (Beike Biotechnology) and cultured as previously
described [11[] Yuan, Xinran et al. “Mesenchymal stem
cell therapy induces FLT3L and CD1c+ dendritic cells in systemic lupus
erythematosus patients.” Nature communications vol. 10,1 2498. 7 Jun.
2019, doi:10.1038/s41467-019-10491-8]. Both SBI and MSCs were
suspended in normal saline. SBI was administered by gastric gavage at
200mg/kg daily from week 5, and MSCs (1×106 cells)
were injected via the caudal vein at week 9. Meanwhile, acetone-induced
B6 mice (n=6) were applied as normal controls and received normal saline
treatment. All mice were sacrificed by cervical dislocation at week 12.
Prior to this urine was collected by massaging the bladder for urinary
protein and creatinine, and later serum was collected for antibody
levels and kidneys were collected to assess histologic changes. In
addition, mouse spleens were ground to cell suspensions, resuspended in
red blood cell lysis buffer for 5 min, passed through a 70μm cell
filter, and centrifuged to obtain splenocytes.