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Updated: Jul 11, 2025
Isolation of Precursor B-cell Subsets from Umbilical Cord Blood
Published on: April 16, 2013
Single-Cell Profiling of Bone Marrow B Cells and Early B Cell Developmental Disorders Associated With Systemic Lupus
Chen Dong1, Yicheng Guo2,3, Zechuan Chen4
1Department of Rheumatology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong University, Nantong, China.
Objective:
The peripheral B cell compartment is heavily disturbed in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but whether B cells develop aberrantly in the bone marrow (BM) is largely unknown.
Methods:
We performed single-cell RNA/B cell receptor (BCR) sequencing and immune profiling of BM B cells and classified patients with SLE into two groups: early B cell (Pro-B and Pre-B) normal (EBnor) and EB defective/low (EBlo) groups.
Results:
The SLE-EBlo group exhibited more severe disease activity and proinflammatory status, overaction of type I interferon signaling and metabolic pathways within the B cell compartment, and aberrant BCR repertoires compared with the SLE-EBnor group. Moreover, in one patient with SLE who was initially classified in the SLE-EBlo group, early B cell deficiency and associated abnormalities were largely rectified in a second BM sample at the remission phase.
Conclusion:
In summary, this study suggests that early B cell loss in BM defines a unique pathological state in a subset of patients with SLE that may play an active role in the dysregulated autoimmune responses.
