Skip to main content
Fig. 1 | Arthritis Research & Therapy

Fig. 1

From: The presence of anti-nuclear antibodies alone is associated with changes in B cell activation and T follicular helper cells similar to those in systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease

Fig. 1

Asymptomatic anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA)+ individuals with no diagnosis of systemic autoimmune rheumatic disease (SARD) have abnormalities in peripheral B cell subsets and their activation similar to symptomatic patients with SARD. a Gating strategy for identification of naïve (IgD+CD27−), unswitched memory (IgD+CD27+), switched memory (IgD−CD27+), and double-negative (DN) memory (IgD−CD27−) cells within the CD19+ B cell compartment of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a representative healthy control and a patient with SARD. b–e Proportions of the different peripheral B cell subsets within the CD19+ B cell compartment for each subject group. f Representative gating for CD86+ cells within the various B cell compartments (example shown is gated on all CD19+ B cells). g–j Proportion of CD86+ cells within each of the different peripheral B cell subsets. Statistical comparisons on the left side of each plot are between healthy controls (HC) and asymptomatic ANA+ individuals (ANA+), patients with undifferentiated connective tissue disease (UCTD), or pooled patients with SARD, whereas those on the right side of the plot are comparisons between the individual SARDs and HC. Bars represent the mean with SEM. Every data point represents an individual patient. For each set of comparisons statistical significance was determined using the Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s post-hoc test for multiple comparisons, as compared to HC; *p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.01, ***p ≤ 0.001, ****p ≤ 0.0001. SLE, systemic lupus erythematosus; SjD, Sjogren’s disease; SSc, systemic sclerosis

Back to article page