Among the patients with active disease, 18 had newly diagnosed disease, while 10 were sampled at the time of a relapse. since rituximab at sampling in treated patients: (range)na66 (43C90)C Open in a MSH4 separate window (female/male)31 (17/14)34 Betaxolol hydrochloride (19/15)28 (11/17)0.361Age: (range)60 (26C85)69 (22C87)65 (29C93)0.085ANCA at diagnosis: (%) [(%) [(%) [(%) [(%)na22 (65)14 (50)0.345Prednisolone, median (range)na2.5 (0C13)1.3 (0C30)0.979Azathioprine, (%)na8 (24)1 (3.6)0.033Methotrexate, (%)na10 (29)3 (11)0.116Mycophenolate mofetil (%)na4 (12)1 (3.6)0.366No immunosuppressive therapy, (%)na30 (88)7 (25)< 0.0001Rituximab: (%)na11 (32)5 (18)0.250???Time since rituximab at sampling in treated patients: median (range)na26 (7C86)18 (11C94)0.935Neither cyclophosphamide or rituximab: (%)na2 (6)20 (71)< 0.0001BVAS: (range)na014 (2C26)C Open in a separate window = 4) (data not shown). Absolute numbers of B-cell subsets were based on the proportion (%) of B-cells within the lymphocyte population combined with the absolute number of lymphocytes from the WBC. Fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) of B-cell subsets for functional studies For the functional studies we included CD45RB in our gating strategy to in more detail distinguish SwMe B-cells, na?ve B-cells and MZ-like B-cells (11). Fresh enriched B-cells were resuspended in PBS + 0.1% FBS and labeled with antibodies to determine SwMe B-cells (CD19+CD27+IgD?CD45RBhigh), na?ve B-cells (CD19+CD27?IgD?CD45RBlow) and MZ-like B-cells (CD19+CD27+IgD+IgMhighCD45RBhigh). Cells were also labeled for CD3 to avoid T-cell contamination during sorting. FMO-controls or FMO-controls combined with isotype-controls were used to set appropriate gates to determine positivity for a specific surface molecule. IgD-VH500 was bought from BD Biosciences and CD45RB from Thermo Fisher (Rockford, IL, USA), whereas the other antibodies were bought from BioLegend. B-cells were resuspended at 2.5 106 cells /ml in PBS + 2% FBS before sorting on a BD FACSARIA III (BD Biosciences). Sorting was performed using a 100 m nozzle at a rate of ~2,000 events /s. Sorted B-cells were collected in FBS-coated 5 ml flow cytometry tubes containing 1 ml RPMI 1640 + 10% FBS. B-cell subsets were reanalysed in annexin V binding buffer (BD Biosciences; diluted 1:10 in distilled water) together with annexin Betaxolol hydrochloride V (Biolegend) to evaluate cell viability. Cell viability was generally good for both HC and AAV patients [HC median MZ-like B-cells 89% (range 86C92), SwMe B-cells 90% (range 88C95), and Na?ve B-cells 90% (range 86C95), and AAV median MZ-like B-cells 88% (range 86C98), SwMe B-cells 92% (range 92C98), and Na?ve B-cells 88% (range 86C92)]. Purity of the different subsets was consistently high [HC median MZ-like B-cells 94% (range 91C97), SwMe B-cells 98% (range 97C100), and Na?ve B-cells 99% (range 98C100), and AAV median MZ-like B-cells 95% (range 91C99), SwMe B-cells 98% (range 97C100), and Na?ve B-cells 97% (range 93C100)], except during isolation of Na?ve B-cells from two patients where there were contaminations of SwMe B-cells, resulting in Na?ve B-cell purity of 54 and 83%. These two na?ve B-cell samples were therefore excluded from the study. Measurement of antibody production with ELISA Sorted B-cell subsets were resuspended to 50 103 cells /ml in RPMI 1,640 supplemented with 10% FBS and 1% penicillin/streptomycin, and cultured for 5 days at 37C and 5% CO2, either in the presence of 1 g/ml CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) of class B (CpG-B ODN, ODN 2006; Invivogen, San Diego, CA, USA) or without stimulation. Cells were then centrifugated and supernatants collected. Ninety-six-well medisorp plates (Thermo Fisher) were coated over night at 4C with 10 g/ml anti-IgM (Dako, Santa Clara, CA, USA), 10 g/ml anti-IgA (Dako), and with 2.5 g/ml anti-IgG antibodies (Mabtech, Stockholm, Sweden). For the IgG ELISA, a blocking step was carried out the next day for 1 h with PBS + 0.05% Tween 20 + 0.1% FBS. 13-point standard curves ranging Betaxolol hydrochloride from 250 to 0.313 ng/ml were used for all ELISAs. Standards and samples (diluted 1:4 in all ELISA) in duplicates were incubated for 2 h in room temperature. After washing, HRP-conjugated anti-IgM (1:1,000) (Dako) and anti-IgA (1:4,000) (Dako) antibodies, for the IgM and IgA ELISA respectively, were added for 2 h in room temperature. After another washing step, tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) was added for 8 min followed by adding the H2SO4 stop solution. Regarding the IgG ELISA, after incubation with standards and samples and a subsequent washing step, these plates were incubated with alkaline phosphatase (ALP)-conjugated anti-IgG antibodies (Mabtech) Betaxolol hydrochloride for 2 h in room temperature. After another washing step, a phosphatase substrate for ALP (Sigma Aldrich) was added and the plates were incubated 40 min before reading. IgG ELISA plates were read at 405 nm and IgM and IgA ELISA plates at 450 nm in a VersaMax ELISA Betaxolol hydrochloride microplate reader (Molecular Devices, Sunnyvale, CA, USA). ELISPOT to determine production of IL-10 and TNF The Human TNF- ELISpot BASIC (ALP).