BLyS and APRIL in rheumatoid arthritis
J. Clin. Invest. Thorsten M. Seyler, et al. 115:3083 doi:10.1172/JCI25265 [Go to this article.]

Figure 1
B cell function and tissue expression of APRIL/BLyS in RA synovium. Synovial biopsies from 72 patients were classified according to the lymphoid microarchitectures. Sixteen patients had GC⁺ synovitis, 30 patients had aggregate synovitis, and 26 patients had diffuse synovitis. cDNA from tissue extracts was adjusted relative to 2 × 10⁶ β-actin copies, and specific transcripts were determined by real-time PCR. (A) H&E staining of representative tissues displayed classical GC (left), lymphoid aggregates (Agg) without GC formation (middle), and diffuse (Diff) mononuclear infiltrates without topographical clustering (right). Original magnification, ×100. (B) IgG transcription was highest in GC⁺ synovitis, intermediate in aggregate synovitis, and low in diffuse synovitis. LT-β and CCL19 production correlated closely with the pattern of lymphoid organogenesis in the synovium. (C) Tissue transcripts for APRIL followed the same hierarchy as LT-β and CCL19. BLyS-specific sequences were abundantly found in all tissues with no correlation to synovial lymphoid microstructures. Results are shown as box plots with medians, twenty-fifth and seventy-fifth percentiles as boxes and tenth and nintieth percentiles as whiskers. P values are indicated where statistically significant.