Figure 1. Comparison of sputum and PBMC B-cells populations: I.
Top panel: Cohort 1: (A) Gating strategy for immunephenotyping CD45+
cells in sputa. Total and percent B-cells in sputum is plotted
stratified by (B) asthma vs healthy, HC, n=8, (C)moderate (MEA, n=10) vs severe eosinophilic asthma (SEA, n=26) (blue
symbols indicate those on oral corticosteroid, OCS; (D)OCS-dependent SEA (n=8), ICS-dependent SEA (n=18), MEA and HC.
Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn’s multiple comparison tests. II. Bottom
panel Cohort 2: (E) Gating strategy for multiparameter analysis of
B-cells subsets. of double negative (DN)
CD27-IgD- B-cells of surface
expression of IgM, CD11C, CD21, CD40 and HLA-DR, in addition to naïve,
classical memory and antigen secreting cells (ASCs). (F)B-cells subtype in sputa vs PBMC. The total number and proportion of B
cell subsets are plotted in (G, H) compared between moderate
eosinophilic asthma (MEA) and severe eosinophilic asthma (SEA). 2-way
ANOVA with the Sidak’s multiple comparisons test were used for
comparison of B-cell subtypes; *P≤0.05, **P≤0.01, ****P≤0.0001.