Fig. 4

Identification and characterization of tetramer-binding B cells. a Gating strategy used to identify DNA tetramer-binding B cells. CD19⁺ B cells were gated, and the frequency of DNA tetramer-binding B cells was determined as shown in HCs and SLE patient. b The frequency of DNA tetramer-binding B cells in HCs (n = 8) compared to SLE patients (n = 15). c DNA tetramer-binding B cells were defined as double negative and naïve B cells; the NAV B cells were further classified into resting (rNAV) and activated (aNAV) naïve B cells; double negative B cells were classified into double negative 1 (DN1) and double negative 2 (DN2) B cells. d The comparative frequencies of naïve and double negative B cell subsets in HCs (n = 8) and SLE patients (n = 15). Bars represent median with interquartile range. p values were determined by the Mann-Whitney U test: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; ****p < 0.0001