Figure 3.

Effect of TNF stimulation on gene expression in healthy individuals and systemic lupus erythematosus patients. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from six systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and three healthy individuals (HI) were isolated and stimulated for 24 hours in the absence and presence of 20 ng/ml TNF. The relative mRNA expressions (RE) compared between TNF-stimulated and nonstimulated control individuals were measured using quantitative RT-PCR. The RE of seven downregulated genes (highlighted in green) and 12 upregulated genes (highlighted in red) are designated by five colors as shown. See Table 1 for gene identification.