Genome-wide analysis of lupus immune complex stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and how this is regulated by C1q

The goal of this study was to determine what genes are up- and down-regulated in response to lupus immune complexes in total peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Our results have shown that novel genes are induced by immune complexes that are likely important for lupus pathogenesis plus that C1q regulates these pathways and induces multiple new pathways not previously identified. Total RNA was isolated from PBMCs from 2 donors after 5 hours with the following condiitons: 1) Unstimulated, 2) Lupus immune complex alone, 3) Lupus immune complex + C1q, 4) C1q alone