Fig. 5
From: Activation of natural killer cells by rituximab in granulomatosis with polyangiitis
Rituximab activated NK cells in vivo in patients with systemic inflammatory disease. PBMCs were isolated from blood withdrawn before and directly after rituximab (RTX) infusions from 15 patients (13 GPA, 1 eosinophilic GPA, and 1 rheumatoid arthritis). PBMCs were incubated with a panel of fluorochrome-labeled antibodies in order to determine percentages of B cells among lymphocytes (a-c) and the activation surrogate marker CD69 on NK cells (d-g) by flow cytometry. a, d Exemplary dot plots, all originating from the same patient receiving RTX for the first time. Statistical analysis of data from patients that received RTX for the first time (n = 9, 1st RTX; b, e) was performed separately from analysis from patients whose B cells were depleted due to prior rituximab infusions (n = 6, prior RTX; c, f), using Wilcoxon test. ns, not significant. g Direct comparison of patients receiving RTX for the first time or not, using one-tailed Mann-Whitney test. N = 6 per group; ΔCD69, (percentages of CD69+ NK cells after RTX) − (percentages of CD69+ NK cells before RTX); crossbars, means