Targeting CD38 with monoclonal antibodies disrupts key survival pathways in paediatric Burkitt's lymphoma malignant B cells.

Objectives: Paediatric Burkitt's lymphoma (pBL) is the most common childhood non-Hodgkin B-cell lymphoma. Despite the encouraging survival rates for most children, treating cases with relapse/resistance to current therapies remains challenging. CD38 is a transmembrane protein highly expressed in pBL.

Correlation of Professional Antigen-Presenting TbetCD11c B Cells With Bone Destruction in Untreated Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Objective: Subsets of CD21 memory B cells (MBCs), including double-negative (DN, CD27IgD) and TbetCD11c cells, are expanded in chronic inflammatory diseases. In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), CD21 MBCs correlate with joint destruction. However, whether this is due to the TbetCD11c subset, its function and pathogenic contribution to RA are unknown.

Cartilage destruction in early rheumatoid arthritis patients correlates with CD21 double-negative B cells.

Background: Involvement of B cells in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is supported by the presence of disease-specific autoantibodies and the efficacy of treatment directed against B cells. B cells that express low levels of or lack the B cell receptor (BCR) co-receptor CD21, CD21 B cells, have been linked to autoimmune diseases, including RA. In this study, we characterized the CD21 and CD21 B cell subsets in newly diagnosed, early RA (eRA) patients and investigated whether any of the B cell subsets were associated with autoantibody status, disease activity and/or joint destruction.

Clonal relationships of memory B cell subsets in autoimmune mice.

Immunological memory protects our body from re-infection and it is composed of a cellular and a humoral arm. The B-cell branch with its memory B cells (MBCs), plasma cells and antibodies, formed either in a germinal centre (GC) -dependent or -independent manner, ensure that we can rapidly mount a recall immune response. Previous work in immunised wildtype (WT) mice have identified several subsets of MBCs whereas less is known under autoimmune conditions.

Infection with Neoehrlichia mikurensis promotes the development of malignant B-cell lymphomas.

The tick-borne pathogen Neoehrlichia (N.) mikurensis is implicated in persistent infection of the vascular endothelium. B cells are crucial for the host defence to this infection.