Fig. 2

Activation of the immune system in a BLM-induced SSc mouse model following overexpression of pcDNA3.1-SARS2-Spike and pLEX307-ACE2-puro (n = 5). (a) Experimental timeline depicting the schedule of pcDNA3.1-SARS2-spike and pLEX307-ACE2-puro overexpression in the BLM-induced SSc mouse model. The mice received 100 µg/mL pcDNA3.1-SARS2-spike and 100 µg/mL pLEX307-ACE2-puro via intramuscular injection twice every 5 days and 0.5 mg/mL bleomycin via subcutaneous injection daily for 2 weeks. (b–d) Enzyme-linked immunoassay measurements of spike S protein, anti-phospholipid antibody, and IgG in serum from BLM-induced SSc mice over 35 days. (e) Flow cytometric analysis representing the percentage of ex vivo Th2 and Th17 cells from blood in BLM-induced SSc mice