I would like to thank Prof, Mike Kemeny and Dr, Paul Macary, for all of their

incessant supports.

I would also like to thank our collaborator, Dr Ken Smith and his group at
Cambridge University.

Table of Contents

1
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................1

CHAPTER 2 MATERIALS AND METHODS..........................................................34

CHAPTER 3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION..............................................................44

Table 1.1 Cytokine profiles in SLE patients..............................................................9

List of Figures

Fig 2.1 Separation of PBMC by Histopaque centrifugation.................................36