Real-time polymerase chain reaction for transcription factors
TRIzol reagent (Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA, USA) was used to extract total RNA from PBMCs. cDNA was synthesized using the cDNA kit (Qiagen). SYBR Green Universal PCR Master Mix (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA) was used for PCR amplification. The results were normalized to glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). The primers for GATA binding protein 3 (GATA3), retinoic acid-related orphan receptor α (RORα), and GAPDH were as follows: GATA3 [sense, 5′-AGG CTC GGG AAA GAG GTG ACA-3′; antisense, 5′-GGC TCC TGC CAA TTC ATT CG-3′], RORα [sense, 5′-AAA CAA GCA GCG GGA GGT GA-3′; antisense, 5′-TGG CAA ACT CCA CCA CAT AC-3′], and GAPDH [sense, 5′-AGC CAC ATC GCT CAG ACAC-3′; antisense, 5′-GCC CAA TAC GAC CAA ATCC-3′] [