Increased Frequencies of Switched Memory B Cells and Plasmablasts in Peripheral Blood from Patients with ANCA-Associated Vasculitis.

Increased Frequencies of Switched Memory B Cells and Plasmablasts in Peripheral Blood from Patients with ANCA-Associated Vasculitis. J Immunol Res. 2020;2020:8209737 Authors: Elmér E, Smargianaki S, Pettersson Å, Skattum L, Ohlsson S, Hellmark T, Johansson ÅCM Abstract B cells are thought to play a central role in the pathogenesis of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody- (ANCA-) associated vasculitis (AAV). ANCAs have been proposed to cause vasculitis by activating primed neutrophils to damage small blood vessels. We studied a cohort of AAV patients of which a majority were in remission and diagnosed with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA). Using flow cytometry, the frequencies of CD19+ B cells and subsets in peripheral blood from 106 patients with AAV and 134 healthy controls were assessed. B cells were divided into naive, preswitch memory, switched memory, and exhausted memory cells. Naive and switched memory cells were further subdivided into transitional cells and plasmablasts, respectively. In addition, serum concentrations of immunoglobulin A, G, and M were measured and clinical data were retrieved. AAV patients displayed, in relation to healthy controls, a decreased frequency of B cells of lymphocytes (5.1% vs. 8.3%) and total B cell number. For the subsets, a decrease in percentage of transitional B cells (0.7% vs. 4.4%) and expansions of switched memory B cells (22.3% vs. 16.5%) and plasmablasts (0.9% vs. 0.3%) were se...
Source: Journal of Immunology Research - Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: J Immunol Res Source Type: research