Fig. 1

Increased numbers of SMB cells and plasmablasts in the peripheral blood of AQP4-Ab positive NMOSD patients. A Frequencies of B cell subsets among PBMCs or CD19⁺ B cells (Kruskal–Wallis test). B Comparisons of the numbers of cells in the CSF of DC, MS, and AQP-4-Ab positive NMOSD patients (Kruskal–Wallis test). C Comparisons of the proportion of cells in the CSF of DC, MS, and AQP-4-Ab positive NMOSD patients (Kruskal–Wallis test). D Correlations between the frequencies of SMB cells and plasmablasts in each group (Spearman’s correlation). The box plot indicates the first and third quartiles and the middle line indicates the median. Whiskers indicate the minimum and maximum. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.005