• Kongyang Ma, Wenhan Du, Xiaohui Wang, Shiwen Yuan, Xiaoyan Cai, Dongzhou Liu, Jingyi Li, and Liwei Lu.
• Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Second Clinical Medical College of Jinan University, Shenzhen People's Hospital, Shenzhen 518000, China.
• Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Nov 29; 20 (23).

AbstractSystemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease characterized by excessive autoantibody production and multi-organ involvement. Although the etiology of SLE still remains unclear, recent studies have characterized several pathogenic B cell subsets and regulatory B cell subsets involved in the pathogenesis of SLE. Among pathogenic B cell subsets, age-associated B cells (ABCs) are a newly identified subset of autoreactive B cells with T-bet-dependent transcriptional programs and unique functional features in SLE. Accumulation of T-bet+ CD11c+ ABCs has been observed in SLE patients and lupus mouse models. In addition, innate-like B cells with the autoreactive B cell receptor (BCR) expression and long-lived plasma cells with persistent autoantibody production contribute to the development of SLE. Moreover, several regulatory B cell subsets with immune suppressive functions have been identified, while the impaired inhibitory effects of regulatory B cells have been indicated in SLE. Thus, further elucidation on the functional features of B cell subsets will provide new insights in understanding lupus pathogenesis and lead to novel therapeutic interventions in the treatment of SLE.

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