Fig. 3
Significantly increased SMB cell differentiation to antibody-secreting cells by coculture with AQP4-Ab positive NMOSD TPH cells. A Frequencies of T cell subsets among CD4+ T cells in HCs and patients (*P < 0.05, ***P < 0.005 by Kruskal–Wallis test). B Proportion of antibody-secreting cells differentiated from SMB cells cocultured with TPH cells or TFH cells and concentrations of IgG in supernatants. SMB cells, TPH cells, and TFH cells were sorted from the peripheral blood of HC or NMOSD patients, and each B cell subset was cocultured with TPH cells or TFH cells for 7 days. Then, the proportion of antibody-secreting cells was analyzed by flow cytometry and the concentration of IgG in culture supernatant was measured by ELISA (*P < 0.05, Mann–Whitney U-test). C Proportion of antibody-secreting cells differentiated from DNB cells cocultured with TPH cells or TFH cells and concentrations of IgG in supernatants. D Proportion of antibody-secreting cells in SMB cell and TPH cell coculture with IL-21R-Fc or control IgG-Fc and concentration of IgG in supernatants from SMB cells and TPH cell coculture with IL-21R-Fc or control IgG-Fc (*P < 0.05, Wilcoxon matched pairs test). The box plot indicates the first and third quartiles and the middle line indicates the median. Whiskers indicate the minimum and maximum