Bladder-specific inflammation in mice 5 weeks after immunization with UPK3A 65–84.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Hematoxylin and eosin stained bladder sections taken from UPK3A 65-84-immunized mice showed extensive perivascular infiltration (right panel) not evident in sections from CFA<i>-</i>immunized control mice (left panel). Solid bar = 100 µm. (<b>B</b>) Immunostaining with CD3 antibody showed a predominance of T cells in bladder infiltrates of mice immunized with UPK3A 65–84 (right panel), but no evidence of T cell infiltration in bladder sections from CFA-immunized control mice (left panel). Solid bar = 20 µm. (<b>C</b>) qRT-PCR analysis showed significantly elevated levels of IFNγ, IL-1β, and TNFα in the bladder but not in the kidney, ovary, uterus, or liver of mice immunized with UPK3A 65–84 compared to tissues from age- and sex-matched naïve mice or control mice immunized with CFA. Error bars indicate plus SEM of 4 mice per group, with triplicate assays for each mouse. *<i>p</i><0.0001 for UPK3A 65-84-immunized mice vs. CFA-immunized or naïve mice by one way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test.