Antiapoptotic signaling through RANKL in MRL/lpr DCs. (A) BMDCs were stimulated with 100 ng/mL mouse recombinant RANKL from 0 to 72 hours, and the cell growth was analyzed by MTT assay. Data are means ± SD of triplicate samples and are representative of 4 independent experiments. *P > .05; **P > .01, MRL/lpr versus control mice. (B) BMDCs from MRL/lpr and control mice were stimulated with RANKL (100 ng/mL) from 0 to 72 hours, and the intracellular expressions of Bcl-xL and Bcl-2 were analyzed by flow cytometry. Numbers above horizontal lines indicate percent Bcl-xL⁺ or Bcl-2⁺ cells. Results are representative of 3 independent experiments. (C) BMDCs from MRL^+/+ and MRL/lpr mice were treated with RANKL (100 ng/mL) from 0 to 72 hours. Bcl-xL, Bcl-2, Bax, and Bid proteins were detected by Western blot analysis. GAPDH was used as a control for loading. Data are representative of 3 independent experiments.