Supplementary_data.doc

<b>Supplementary Material</b>. Basophils as a potential marker of lupus nephritis by flow cytometry <b>Objective:</b> To establish a convenient and simple flow cytometry immunophenotyping panel to explore immune cellular alterations and potential cellular biomarkers in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). <b>Materials and Methods:</b> This is a cross-sectional, case-control study include 60 patients with SLE and 20 sex- and age-matched healthy controls. 14-color imunophenotyping panel is applied to detect proportions of circulating immune mononuclear cell. Comparison between patients and healthy controls, subgroup patients were performed. Besides, correlations between cellular proportions and other parameters were investigated. <b>Results:</b> We revealed that after multivariate analysis, decreased proportions of CD4-CD8- T cells, natural killer (NK) cells, and innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) were observed significantly in patients compared to healthy controls. The proportions of basophils were decreased significantly in patients with LN compared to in patients without LN. <b>Conclusions:</b> In the present study, we found that basophil proportions may be a biomarker of LN.