1. (A) Average clinical ...
(A) Average clinical scores of DBA/J1 mice treated with APC at 0.5 (APC-0.5) or 2 mg/kg (APC-2) or PBS (control) (22 mice/group) between the first and second immunization. One-way ANOVA and Student’s t-test were used to compare means. (B) Incidence of arthritis in APC-treated or control group (n=22 mice/group). Survival plots (Kaplan–Meier) and log rank analysis were used to compare arthritis incidence. (C) Histological scores of each group (n=10 mice/group) on day 21 after the second immunization. One-way ANOVA and Student’s t-test were used to compare means. (D) Representative knee joints in each group stained with toluidine blue. Data on the graph are shown as mean ± s.d. Scale bar: 500 µm. *P <0.05, **P<0.01, when compared with controls. SCI: synovitis cell infiltrate; C-PG-L: cartilage proteoglycan loss; CE: cartilage erosion; VIC: vascular invasion from subchondral bone.
Unless provided in the caption above, the following copyright applies to the content of this slide: © The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (
Rheumatology (Oxford), key429,
The content of this slide may be subject to copyright: please see the slide notes for details.

2. (A) The average total ...
(A) The average total histological scores of each group (n=8 mice/group) treated with APC or PBS (control) between day 1 and 21 before intra-articular injection of mBSA in the AIA model. (B) The average histological scores of synovitis cell infiltrate and PG loss in each group (n=8 mice/group). (C) The average histological scores of mice treated with APC in the presence of RCR16 (APC+R16) or RCR20 (APC+R20) (n=6 mice/group) at day 4 after intra-articular injection of mBSA. Data on the graph are shown as mean ± s.d. (D) Representative knee joints in each group stained with toluidine blue. Scale bar: 500 µm. Student’s t-test was used to compare means. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, when compared with controls (A and B) or APC+R20 (C). NS: no statistical significance; PG: cartilage proteoglycan.
Unless provided in the caption above, the following copyright applies to the content of this slide: © The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (
Rheumatology (Oxford), key429,
The content of this slide may be subject to copyright: please see the slide notes for details.

3. EPCR and PC/APC in synovial tissues from ...
EPCR and PC/APC in synovial tissues from normal and arthritic mice at (A) day 21 after the second immunization in CIA model or at (B) day 14 after intra-articular injection of mBSA in AIA model, detected by immunostaining. Red arrows indicate synovial lining layers and black arrows indicate chondrocytes. Scale bar: 500 µm. (C) sEPCR and APC in sera from normal or arthritic (RA) mice (n=20) in CIA model, measured by ELISA. (D) sEPCR and APC in sera from PBS-treated (control) or APC-treated (2 mg/kg) mice (n=18) in CIA model, detected by ELISA or APC activity assay. Data on the graph are shown as mean ± s.d. Student’s t-test was used to compare means. *P<0.05, when compared with normal or controls. NS: no statistical significance.
Unless provided in the caption above, the following copyright applies to the content of this slide: © The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (
Rheumatology (Oxford), key429,
The content of this slide may be subject to copyright: please see the slide notes for details.

4. (A) IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17 and ...
(A) IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17 and TNF-α and (B) IgG2a, IgG2b, IgG1 and total IgG in sera from APC-treated (2 mg/kg) or PBS-treated (control) mice at day 21 after second immunization in CIA model. Data on the graph are shown as mean ± s.d (n=18). Student’s t-test was used to compare means. NS: no statistical significance; *P <0.05 when compared to controls. The Th1 (IFN-γ, TNF-α) and Th17 (IL-17, IFN-γ) positive cells in CD4⁺ lymphocytes from (C) thymus of C57BL6 mice and (D) PBMCs, detected by flow cytometry.
Unless provided in the caption above, the following copyright applies to the content of this slide: © The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (
Rheumatology (Oxford), key429,
The content of this slide may be subject to copyright: please see the slide notes for details.

5. The levels of (A) sEPCR and (B) APC-PCI in plasma from ...
The levels of (A) sEPCR and (B) APC-PCI in plasma from RA patients (RA) or HCs, detected by ELISA. Data on the graph are shown as mean ± s.d (n=50). Student’s t-test was used to compare means. *P<0.05 when compared with HCs. NS: no statistical significance.
Unless provided in the caption above, the following copyright applies to the content of this slide: © The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (
Rheumatology (Oxford), key429,
The content of this slide may be subject to copyright: please see the slide notes for details.

6. (A) Inflammatory cytokines in culture supernatants ...
(A) Inflammatory cytokines in culture supernatants of RASFs treated with APC (10 µg/ml) for 24 h, detected by ELISA and converted to a percentage of control. (B) The invasion of RASFs treated with APC or etanercept (ETA, 10 µg/ml) in the presence of TNF (100 ng/ml) or IL-17 (100 ng/ml) for 24 h. (C) The proliferation of RASFs treated with APC or ETA at the presence of IL-17 for 72 h. (D and E) Intracellular molecules in RASFs treated with APC or ETA in the presence or absence of TNF or IL-17 for 24 h, detected by Western blot and semi-quantified by ImageJ. P: phosphorylated. Data on the graph are shown as mean ± s.d (n=3). One-way ANOVA and Student’s t-test were used to compare means. When compared with *control, #with IL-17 and φ with TNF or when comparing APC with ETA (E). ∗,#,φ P<0.05; ∗∗,##,φφP <0.01.
Unless provided in the caption above, the following copyright applies to the content of this slide: © The Author(s) Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (
Rheumatology (Oxford), key429,
The content of this slide may be subject to copyright: please see the slide notes for details.