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 2
CD38-expressing B cell subsets in active-SLE blood disappear following two treatments with humanized anti-CD154 (5c8). Freshly isolated mononuclear cells (MNCs) from active-SLE patients (a and b), normal volunteers (a), and individual tonsils (a) were assessed for CD19⁺ subpopulations by FACS analysis following staining with FITC-conjugated anti-IgD, PE-conjugated anti-CD38, and APC-conjugated anti-CD19. Freshly isolated PBMCs from active-SLE patients before treatment, during treatment (SLE nos. 1 and 2, 2 months; SLE nos. 3 and 4, 1 month), and after treatment withdrawal (SLE no. 1, 3 months after; SLE no. 2, 20 months after; SLE no. 3, 2 months after; SLE no. 4, 20 months after) were assessed for CD19⁺ subpopulations by FACS analysis following staining with FITC-conjugated anti-IgD, PE-conjugated anti-CD38, and APC-conjugated anti-CD19 (c). The mean ± SEM percentages of CD19⁺ B cells in each subset defined by CD38 and IgD are shown graphically. Statistical significance was determined by the Student’s t test and is depicted with each pair of symbols indicating a specific comparison: ^λP = 0.0445, ^αP = 0.0208, ⁺P = 0.0208, ^βP = 0.00037, ^δP = 0.014, ^γP = 0.0197, *P = 0.016.