Fig. 3: Anti-human-TIGIT (anti-hu-TIGIT) agonistic mAb (αTIGIT) suppresses T cell-dependent autoantibody production in a hu-TIGIT knock-in (KI) imiquimod (IMQ)-induced lupus model in mice.

a The method used to establish IMQ-induced lupus model mice and the αTIGIT treatment protocol of 10-week-old female hu-TIGIT KI mice are shown. b Hu-TIGIT KI mice were divided into three groups: isotype-treated (n = 4, black open circle), IMQ- and αTIGIT-treated (n = 5, red closed circle), and IMQ- and isotype-treated (n = 5, black closed circle) mice. Spleen weight/body weight and total splenocyte number are shown. c TIGIT expression of various CD4+ T cell subsets and that of B220+ cells are shown. d The proportion of CD4+ T cells in splenocytes and Tn, Tcm, and Tem in CD4+ T cells are shown. e Representative flow cytometry plots for Tph cells and Tfh cells and the proportions of those cells are shown. f The proportion of Foxp3+ Treg cells among CD4+ T cells and Foxp3high Treg cells (g) among Foxp3+ Treg cells are shown (one sample could not be collected in IMQ- and isotype-treated). The proportions of B220+ cells (h) in the spleen, germinal centre (GC) B cells (i) among B220+ cells and plasma cells (j) in total splenocytes are shown. k Anti-dsDNA Abs in plasma at 6 weeks are shown (one sample could not be collected in IMQ- and isotype-treated). Error bars represent the mean ± SEM, and P values were determined using a two-tailed Student’s t test. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.