Fig. 1

Peripheral B cell composition of IIM patients with subgroups DM, ASyS and OM. (A) Dot plots showing the gating strategy used to identify peripheral B cell populations in one representative patient per phenotype, including CD27⁺IgD^- switched memory cells (SWM), CD27⁺IgD⁺ non-switched memory (NSM) cells, CD27^-IgD^- double negative (DN) cells and CD27^-IgD⁺ naive B cells. (B) CD24⁺CD38⁺ transitional B cells were gated within total CD19⁺ B cells, with subtypes 1 (IgM⁺IgD^-), 2 (IgM⁺IgD⁺) and 3 (IgM^-IgD⁺) identified as shown. The percentages of the identified subtypes from the dot plots are included. (C) Within the SWM cells, CD27⁺CD38⁺ plasmablasts were identified as shown in the dot plots, and graph shows the percentage within total B cells. Dotted line in A-C represents HD reference values. DM: dermatomyositis, ASyS: anti-synthetase syndrome, OM: overlap myositis, HD: healthy donor. Graphs display the mean, SD and individual values (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, n = 4/IIM subgroup; n = 6 HD)