Figure 7From: Elevated autoantibody content in rheumatoid arthritis synovia with lymphoid aggregates and the effect of rituximabRituximab selectively lowers total immunoglobulin synthesis but not autoantibody content in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovia containing lymphoid aggregates. (a) GAPDH-normalized synovial message for IgM and IgG1 heavy constant region in RA synovial biopsies with (Aggr, n = 5) or without (None, n = 9) lymphoid aggregates 8 weeks after rituximab treatment. Serum-normalized levels of (b) total IgM and total IgG and (c) RF-IgM and anti-CCP IgG in extracts from the same synovia as in (a). Data are expressed as geometric mean ± 95% confidence interval (CI) of post-treatment levels relative to pretreatment levels. Asterisks denote that 95% CI excludes 0% change (stippled line). anti-CCP, anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide; GAPDH, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; RF-IgM, rheumatoid factor of the IgM subtype; SSI, synovial/serum index.Back to article page