Fig. 6

Expression dynamics during alemtuzumab therapy for selected genes. Shown are mRNA levels in B cells immediately before (B) as well as ~ 7 months following (F) the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th alemtuzumab treatment course. Lines connect the data for the B sample and the F sample from the same patient (n = 21 sample pairs). Blue dots/lines indicate that the patient experienced a relapse in the 12 months after drug administration (n = 2 for the first treatment course and n = 4 for the second treatment course), while black dots/lines indicate that the patient was free of relapses in the follow-up period. a–c Genes expressed at an extremely lower level (log2 fold change <  − 3 and p < 0.05) following the start of alemtuzumab therapy. d–f Genes expressed at an extremely higher level (log2 fold change > 3 and p < 0.05) after the second treatment course. g–i Genes differentially expressed between patients with and without relapse (mean difference > 1 at F1 and F2 and p < 0.05 at one timepoint). Negative values are displayed in red. The data for further interesting genes are shown in Additional file 1: Fig. S4. * p < 0.05