Table 3.
Functional B cell subsets in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients versus healthy controls (HC)
| CFS patients (n = 33) | HCs (n = 24) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cell population compared | Min–max | Med. | 25% quartile | 75% quartile | Min–max | Med. | 25% quartile | 75% quartile | % diff | P-value |
| B cells (% lymphocytes) | 3·4–23·2 | 9·5 | 6·5 | 12·8 | 1·8–19 | 10·3 | 6·4 | 13·9 | −8 | 0·802 |
| Switched-memory B cells (% lymphocytes) | 0·0–5·6 | 0·4 | 0·0 | 0·9 | 0·0–2·9 | 0·5 | 0·2 | 1·0 | −20 | 0·167 |
| Switched-memory B cells (% B cells) | 0·0–28·0 | 5·2 | 0·0 | 7·7 | 0·0–29·0 | 6·9 | 3·6 | 11·9 | −25 | 0·082 |
| Marginal zone B cells (% lymphocytes) | 0·2–2·6 | 0·99 | 0·7 | 1·6 | 0·1–5·7 | 1·2 | 0·8 | 1·4 | −18 | 0·853 |
| Marginal zone B cells (% B cells) | 3·3–25·8 | 11·0 | 8·1 | 16·2 | 3·0–34·3 | 11·4 | 7·5 | 17·3 | −4 | 0·740 |
| Naive B cells (% lymphocytes) | 1·7–16·3 | 6·3 | 4·2 | 7·9 | 0·1–12·9 | 3·9 | 2·0 | 6·7 | 138 | 0·034 |
| Naive B cells (% B cells) | 33·8–85·0 | 65·0 | 52·8 | 71·5 | 0·3–77·6 | 47·0 | 32·8 | 62·9 | 128 | 0·003 |
| CD38low CD21low cells (% B cells) | 0·6–20·3 | 2·7 | 1·1 | 4·4 | 0·1–68·3 | 3·1 | 2·4 | 4·1 | −13 | 0·193 |
| Transitional B cells (% B cells) | 0·0–8·3 | 1·8 | 0·5 | 4·1 | 0·0–7·3 | 0·8 | 0·3 | 1·2 | 155 | 0·025 |
| Plasmablasts (% B cells) | 0·0–8·6 | 0·5 | 0·3 | 1·1 | 0·1–24·3 | 0·9 | 0·6 | 2·7 | −44 | 0·013 |
| CD27+ cells (% B cells) | 12·6–45·8 | 25·2 | 19·5 | 37·5 | 13·6–97·0 | 27·4 | 19·3 | 46·0 | −8 | 0·268 |
| Non-switched memory B cells (% B cells) | 5·0–27·6 | 13·3 | 9·5 | 18·0 | 7·1–97·0 | 14·5 | 11·6 | 24·8 | −8 | 0·162 |
Results of the statistical analysis of B cell functional subsets using the non-parametric Mann–Whitney rank sum test. P < 0·05 represent a statistically significant result; these results are shown in bold type. The statistical data have not been modified. Med: median.