Fig. 3

M2-ApoBDs induced functional changes in spleen macrophages in MRL/lpr mice. (A) UMAP analysis showed that there were 9 different cell clusters in the spleen. Different cell clusters are color-coded. (B) Expression levels of cell marker genes used to define 9 cell clusters. (C) Volcano plot showing significantly up-regulated (red dots) and down-regulated (blue dots) mRNAs in spleen macrophages of M2-ApoBDs compared to M0-ApoBDs (Fold change > 0.2, P value < 0.05). (D) Heatmap representation of mRNA sequences in spleen macrophages between M2-ApoBDs and M0-ApoBDs treatment group (Fold change > 0.2 and P value < 0.05). (E) KEGG pathway analysis of significantly down-regulated mRNAs in macrophages from M2-ApoBDs treatment group. (F-G) GSEA-KEGG analysis showed ‘TNF signaling pathway’ and ‘NOD-like receptor signaling pathway’ were down-regulated in M2-ApoBDs treatment groups. (H-I) Flow cytometric analysis showed the proportion of F4/80⁺ CD86⁺ cells in spleen after M2-ApoBDs or M0-ApoBDs administration. (J-K) Flow cytometric analysis showed the proportion of F4/80⁺ CD206⁺ cells after M2-ApoBDs or M0-ApoBDs administration. Statistical analysis was processed using a one-way ANOVA with multiple comparison test (^*p < 0.05)