Statistics analysis
All statistical calculations were performed using the statistical software program SPSS 17.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). Differences between various groups were evaluated by the Student’s t-test, paired t-test, one-way ANOVA test, or spearman test, and were statistically significant at P < 0.05.ResultsThe frequencies ofCD27+IgD+B cells are significantly decreased in SLE patients
B cells could be divided into four subsets based on their expression of CD27 and IgD, including naïve B cells (CD27-IgD+), Innate-like B cells (CD27+IgD+), switched memory B cells (CD27+IgD-), and double negative B cells (CD27-IgD-) as demonstrated in Figure 1A. To reveal the role of CD27+IgD+B cells in SLE pathogenesis, we first compared their frequencies between SLE patients and healthy individuals. As shown in Figure 1B and C, compared to the 50 healthy volunteers, the frequencies of CD27+IgD+B cells were significantly decreased in the peripheral blood of 50 SLE patients.