Increased Frequencies of Switched Memory B Cells and Plasmablasts in Peripheral Blood from Patients with ANCA-Associated Vasculitis
Table 4
Frequencies of B cells and subsets in patients with AAV in active disease and remission.
Phenotype
Active disease ()
Remission ()
value
BVAS3, median (range)
6 (2-26)
0 (0-1)
<0.0001
B cells (% of lymphocytes)
6.12 (2.97-9.70)
4.64 (3.15-8.98)
ns
B cells (106/L)a
32.3 (17.6-84.5)
25.9 (15.0-66.4)
ns
B cell subsets (% of B cells)
Naive
51.7 (35.6-58.3)
47.5 (30.5-63.6)
ns
Preswitch memory
4.93 (2.89-9.76)
6.71 (3.69-10.3)
ns
Switched memory
21.0 (14.2-29.5)
22.3 (13.6-33.1)
ns
Exhausted memory
19.8 (16.4-25.9)
21.5 (12.7-25.9)
ns
Transitional
1.35 (0.103-5.67)
0.675 (0.0600-2.81)
ns
Plasmablasts
0.755 (0.398-3.12)
0.905 (0.390-1.70)
ns
Activated B cells and subsets
CD95+ B cells (% of B cells)
19.5 (9.50-33.8)
20.8 (12.3-32.8)
ns
CD95+ naive (% of naive)
2.79 (0.920-6.53)
3.47 (1.60-7.80)
ns
CD95+ preswitch memory (% of preswitch memory)
19.4 (11.3-39.5)
28.2 (16.8-38.7)
ns
CD95+ switched memory (% of switched memory)
59.1 (51.5-76.5)
61.0 (50.8-72.7)
ns
CD95+ exhausted memory (% of exhausted memory)
19.4 (11.2-33.0)
25.9 (16.3-35.6)
ns
Treatment, (%)
Prednisolone
17 (71)
39 (48)
Azathioprine
6 (25)
27 (33)
Methotrexate
1 (4)
8 (10)
Mycophenolate mofetil
1 (4)
5 (6)
Cyclophosphamide
5 (21)
6 (7)
No medication
3 (13)
23 (28)
Frequencies of B cells (CD19+ lymphocytes) and subsets analyzed in patients using flow cytometry. Active disease: ; remission: . The Mann-Whitney test was used to calculate the level of significance. Data are presented with medians and interquartile ranges. AAV: antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody- (ANCA-) associated vasculitis; BVAS3: Birmingham Vasculitis Activity Score version 3; ns: not significant. a equals 23 (active disease), 78 (remission) for absolute values.
