Figure 3

In treatment of human neuroimmunological disorders, anti-CD20 treatment is associated with an enhanced pro-inflammatory activity of monocytes. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from anti-CD20-treated or untreated patients with neuroimmunological disorders (see table 1) a) Frequency of monocytes was determined as percentage of CD14⁺ cells within all CD4⁺/CD8⁺/CD14⁺ PBMCs. Black lines represent mean; p = 0.163. b) MACS-purified monocytes were stimulated with the indicated concentrations of LPS; TNF secretion was evaluated by ELISPOT (indicated as frequency of TNF-producing cells/3,000 monocytes; black lines represent mean; *p < 0.05) c) PBMCs were stimulated with the indicated concentrations of LPS; monocytic expression of signalling lymphocytic activation molecule (SLAM) was evaluated by FACS (indicated as percentage of SLAM⁺ cells within all CD14⁺ monocytes; black lines represent median; * p = 0.034).