Figure 6. HCV patients with advanced fibrosis have increased expression of CD86 on memory B cells.

Fibrosis scores were determined as outlined in the Materials and Methods, where scores of 3–4 are considered advanced fibrosis/cirrhosis (F4). PBMCs were freshly isolated and analyzed by flow cytometry as in Figure 3. The expression level and percent positive of cells expressing CD86 (geometric mean fluorescent intensity (MFI) or percent positive compared to mouse isotype controls) were calculated for memory (CD19+CD27+) and naïve (CD19+CD27−) B cells. Horizontal lines represent median values. *, P<0.05; n.s., not significant.