Management of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)

Perturbations of peripheral B lymphocyte homoeostasis in children with systemic lupus erythematosus

“…With regard to B lymphocytes, spontaneously activated B cells and polyclonal production of Ig including autoantibodies have been repeatedly demonstrated in the peripheral blood and in the bone marrow in SLE. [17][18][19][20][21] The identification of an expansion of peripheral plasma blasts is consistent with these previous findings.…”

“…CD27/CD70 interaction is involved in late stage differentiation of B cells, providing a key signal for the maturation of memory B cells into Ig secreting cells in the germinal centre reaction. 17 18 22-24 Expression of CD27 on B cells is apparently induced in germinal centre reactions and is maintained on memory B cells that express somatically hypermutated V genes, 14 regardless of whether they coexpress IgD. It should be noted that cord blood B cells do not express CD27, and the fraction of CD27 + memory B cells increases with age.…”