CD4 and systemic lupus erythematosus: However, as immunization with adjuvants strongly influences the cytokine expression pattern and lineage commitment of autoantigen-specific CD4+ T cells, the Th1 dominance observed in immunized mice might not necessarily represent the lineage of SmD1p-specific CD4+ T cells that are generated spontaneously during disease progression, although a dominant Th1 lineage commitment was also described in previous studies in both human and murine lupus (5, 11, 16, 19, 22).