Figure 4.

Distribution of B cell subsets in SLE patients and healthy controls. (A) Distribution of CD19⁺ B cells among B cell subsets in blood of healthy controls (HC, N=18) and SLE patients with low κ⁺λ⁺ (SLE-L, N=12) or high κ⁺λ⁺ (SLE-H, N=6) cells. Mature naïve B cells are graphed separately to visualize better group differences within the smaller B cell subsets. The B cell subsets were gated as shown in Figure 3A . PBs&PCs(1) were gated as CD38^highCD24^low, while PBs&PCs(2) were gated as CD38^highCD27^high. Data were collected over a total of 18 independent analyses. Each symbol is a subject, and bars represent mean+SD. Statistical analysis was performed with a Mann-Whitney U test. Statistical significance for differences between each SLE group and the healthy control group are shown on top of each SLE group bar. Differences between the SLE-L and SLE-H groups are shown with horizontal lines on top of the SLE bars and only if significant. (B, C) Scatter plot analyses of the percentage of ABCs (y-axis) relative to the percentage (on x-axis) of either BND (B) or DN (C) cells within the CD19⁺ B cell population of SLE patients (left graphs) and healthy controls (right graphs). Cells were analyzed as shown in Figure 3A and data were collected over the course of 18 independent analyses. Data were analyzed by Simple linear regression. *p ≤ 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.0001; ns, not significant.