Abnormal germinal center reactions in systemic lupus erythematosus demonstrated by blockade of CD154-CD40 interactions
J. Clin. Invest. Amrie C. Grammer, et al. 112:1506 doi:10.1172/JCI19301 [Go to this article.]

Figure 1
Freshly isolated SLE B cells express functionally active CD154. (a and b) CD154 expression on CD4⁺ T cells and CD19⁺ B cells from the periphery of SLE patients and normal volunteers was assessed by flow cytometric staining of PBMCs for CD154 (PE-conjugated 89-76; shown in a and in b [left panel]; unconjugated 5c8 followed by PE-conjugated goat anti-mouse Ig, b [right panel]) and CD19 or CD4 (APC-conjugated mAb, a and b). The results of two of six experiments with similar findings are shown. (c) Freshly isolated, negatively selected peripheral B cells (0.1 × 10⁵) from active-SLE patients and normal volunteers were incubated in the presence of 10 μg/ml anti-CD154 (mIgG2a; 5c8) or 10 μg/ml control Ab (mouse IgG2a; P1.17). Analysis of DNA synthesis was carried out on day 3. Ig production was analyzed by ELISA after a 5-day incubation. All determinations were performed in duplicate and are expressed as the mean ± SEM. The results of one of three experiments with similar findings are shown. ³H-thy, ³H-thymidine.