Fig. 1

Overview of the study. Peripheral blood was taken from healthy controls, patients with primary progressive MS (PPMS) and patients with relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). The patients with RRMS received either monthly infusions of natalizumab (n = 29) or a pulsed immune reconstitution therapy (IRT) with alemtuzumab (n = 15) or cladribine (n = 6). The timelines of drug administration are shown in blue. For the study groups healthy, PPMS and natalizumab, we collected one sample per individual, whereas in the case of IRTs, up to four samples were collected per patient before (B) and/or following (F) an annual treatment course. In total, we collected 121 blood samples from 91 subjects. We then isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) before isolating untouched B cells by magnetic separation. A fraction of the B cells was cryopreserved and later used for B-cell phenotyping by multicolor flow cytometry. From the remaining B cells, total RNA was extracted, labeled and hybridized to high-density Clariom D arrays to obtain transcriptome profiles