Autoreactive B cells in rheumatoid arthritis include mainly activated CXCR3+ memory B cells and plasmablasts.

ABSTRACT: Many autoimmune diseases (AIDs) are characterized by the persistence of autoreactive B cell responses, which have been directly implicated in disease pathogenesis. How and why these cells are generated or how they are maintained for years is largely unknown. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is among the most common AIDs and is characterized by autoantibodies recognizing proteins with posttranslational modifications (PTMs). This PTM-directed autoreactive B cell compartment is ill defined. Here, we visualized the B cell response against the three main types of PTM antigens implicated in RA by spectral flow cytometry. Our results showed extensive cross-reactivity of PTM-directed B cells against all three PTM antigens (citrulline, homocitrulline, and acetyllysine). Unsupervised clustering revealed se

SUBMITTER: Reijm S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10619489 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature