Changes in peripheral B cell subsets under immunosuppressive therapy
type: CreativeWork
description: Normal homeostasis of the immune system is critical for the maintenance of immunological tolerance and immunocompetence. Failure of self-tolerance results in autoimmune reactions which may progress to chronic autoimmune diseases. B cells play an important role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases and influence autoimmunity through multiple pathways. With the availability of informative B cell surface markers it is now possible to identify within the circulating B cell compartment (CD19+) at least 4 subsets: naive B cells (CD27-), IgM memory B cells (CD27+IgM/D+), switched memory B cells (CD27+IgM/D-) and plasma cells (CD27+CD38+CD24-). For the first time this B cell subset analysis was performed in three established autoimmune conditions (systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), wegener's granulomatosis (WG), chronic graft versus host disease (GvHD)) with special emphasis on changes induced by immunosuppressive therapy (disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs)) and cyclophosphamide (CYC) treatment. There was a significant impact of immunosuppressive treatment on peripheral B cell subsets in SLE and WG patients. Absolute lymphocyte numbers and CD19+ B cell counts were significantly decreased, as were naive B cells and switched memory B cells. Plasma cells tended to show a relative but not an absolute increase. In SLE patients the most significant decrease was observed for IgM memory B cells after CYC and DMARD therapy: absolute and relative cell counts were very low and remained so for a mean period of over 3 years after the last CYC treatment. Untreated SLE patients showed no significant decrease of IgM memory B cells. It is suggested that remission inducing therapy with CYC has a profound and long-lasting impact on total lymphocytes and peripheral B cell subsets in SLE and WG patients. Notably the IgM memory B cells are seriously hit. In contrast, plasma cells which can hide in protected niches of bone marrow and lamina propria intestini appear to be quite r…
abstract: Normal homeostasis of the immune system is critical for the maintenance of immunological tolerance and immunocompetence. Failure of self-tolerance results in autoimmune reactions which may progress to chronic autoimmune diseases. B cells play an important role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases and influence autoimmunity through multiple pathways. With the availability of informative B cell surface markers it is now possible to identify within the circulating B cell compartment (CD19+) at least 4 subsets: naive B cells (CD27-), IgM memory B cells (CD27+IgM/D+), switched memory B cells (CD27+IgM/D-) and plasma cells (CD27+CD38+CD24-). For the first time this B cell subset analysis was performed in three established autoimmune conditions (systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), wegener's granulomatosis (WG), chronic graft versus host disease (GvHD)) with special emphasis on changes induced by immunosuppressive therapy (disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs)) and cyclophosphamide (CYC) treatment. There was a significant impact of immunosuppressive treatment on peripheral B cell subsets in SLE and WG patients. Absolute lymphocyte numbers and CD19+ B cell counts were significantly decreased, as were naive B cells and switched memory B cells. Plasma cells tended to show a relative but not an absolute increase. In SLE patients the most significant decrease was observed for IgM memory B cells after CYC and DMARD therapy: absolute and relative cell counts were very low and remained so for a mean period of over 3 years after the last CYC treatment. Untreated SLE patients showed no significant decrease of IgM memory B cells. It is suggested that remission inducing therapy with CYC has a profound and long-lasting impact on total lymphocytes and peripheral B cell subsets in SLE and WG patients. Notably the IgM memory B cells are seriously hit. In contrast, plasma cells which can hide in protected niches of bone marrow and lamina propria intestini appear to be quite r…
author: Hu, Shaoxian
keywords: systemische Lupus erythematodes (SLE), Wegener-Granulomatose (WG), chronische Transplantat-gegen-Wirt -Reaktion (GvHD), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Wegener's granulomatosis (WG), chronic graft versus host disease (GvHD)
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:22:22Z
provider: University of Freiburg
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Freiburg