Furthermore, we analyze a neglected subset of B cells, the immature B cells. This subset becomes increasingly important following treatment with rituximab as during the initial stages of B cell reconstitution these cells comprise the majority of B cells and following their maturation

will form the new mature B cell compartment. As naïve B cells comprise ≈70% of all B cells, their rapid turnover may trigger the release of immature B cells from the Sunitinib in vitro bone marrow, accounting for the observed increase in the percentage of immature transitional B cells in HCV patients with and without cryoglobulinemia as compared with uninfected controls (Fig. 5). An increased proportion of immature B cells has also been observed in HIV infection in correlation with CD4+ T cell deficiency14 and IL-7 levels.14, 15 In contrast to HIV infection, there was no significant change in T cell percentages in HCV-infected patients with and without MC compared with uninfected controls (data not shown). Based on the observed reduction of CD19+ B cell percentages and numbers (Fig. 2, Supporting Fig. 1), and the increased apoptosis susceptibility of their main fraction, the naïve ABT-263 mw B cell population (Fig. 4), we propose that the increase in immature B cells is due to a secondary egress from the bone marrow to compensate for the B cell loss in the periphery. This process may be mediated by BAFF, a B cell growth factor that is elevated

in the plasma of HCV patients.16, 17 A potential weakness of our study was the use of frozen and thawed rather than freshly isolated PBMCs. However, omission of the freezing step was not feasible as symptomatic mixed cryoglobulinemia is a rare condition,

and only a few patient samples could be collected per year. To keep variations in experimental conditions to a minimum (e.g., changes in MFI due to alterations in laser power of the flow cytometer), all PBMC samples were frozen and studied collectively within a short time period using the same protocol and experimental conditions. Even though the percentage of differentiated B cells may have decreased due to freezing/thawing of the PBMCs, we were still able to see differences in B cell populations among individual patient groups and changes in B cell percentages in patients whose PBMC samples were collected over crotamiton time and studied retrospectively. The observed enhanced B cell apoptosis may appear inconsistent with the increased lymphoma risk of MC patients.18 However, we do not believe this is the case, because we found only the naïve, but not the activated/memory B cell subset to be prone to apoptosis. Indeed, it is well established that the pathogenic B cells in MC are memory B cells with a restricted immunoglobulin repertoire,8 and the same cells are found in HCV-associated lymphoma.2 How these cells are generated has been a contentious subject for many years.