Figure 5

Analysis of apoptosis of subsets of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus under Rituximab therapy. Freshly isolated mononuclear cells from systemic lupus erythematosus patients were double labeled with annexin V-FITC plus antibodies specific for (a) T cells or (b) B cells, and analyzed by flow cytometry, as described in Materials and methods. As indicated, detection of apoptotic cells was performed before (day 0) and after (days 30 and 90) administration of Rituximab. The arithmetic mean is indicated with a horizontal line, and the standard deviation with a vertical line. (c) Representative histograms of flow cytometry analysis of CD3+ and CD19+ cells at day 30.