Figure 2. Autoantibody profile and fuctional analysis of sputum B-cells. (A, B) Significantly higher anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) was observed in SEA and MEA as compared to HC. The calculated cut-off was based on 95th percentile HC subjects, as represented by dotted lines. (C) Significant positive correlation between sputum ANA and anti-EPX IgG. (D, E) Sputum ANA is positively correlated with sputum B-cell proportion and numbers. (F) Sputum B-cells showed an increased trend in autoimmune airways (G, H) Profile of unstimulated B-cells ELISpot assay in SEA (n=17) and MEA (n=5) showed predominant IgG and IgA ASC. (I) ELISpot assay detects antibody-secreting cells in sputa, that produce anti-EPX IgG and IgA