Abstract
B cells are known to play a dominant pathogenic role in autoimmune conditions such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis. In recent times, the chemokine receptor CCR6 and its cognate ligand CCL20 have been shown to play a role in the fundamental kinetics of germinal centres and B cell responses. As CCR6 is found on B cells and is upregulated after activation, we investigated the expression of CCR6 on naive, pre-germinal centre (GC), GC/plasma cell and memory B cells in peripheral B cells of SLE patients and healthy controls using flow cytometry. Pre-germinal centre B cells are found in lower proportions and the expression of CCR6 is increased on B cells of SLE patients, suggesting a role for the chemokine pair in the pathogenesis of the disease. Further studies are needed to explore these preliminary results.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Ms. Jocelyn Darby and Ms. Kathy Buttigieg for their help with collecting and processing the blood samples and would like to express gratitude to the patients who volunteered their time and blood for this study. JLB was a recipient of an Australian Postgraduate Award. The study was funded by the Menzies Institute for Medical Research Tasmania and the Lupus Association of Tasmania.
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The study was approved by the Human Research and Ethics Committee of the University of Tasmania.
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The original version of this article was revised: In the recent manuscript, the name of the co-author Murray J. Adams was inadvertently omitted. His name and affiliation have now been added.
An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10067-017-3678-6.
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Lee, A.Y.S., Bannan, J.L., Adams, M.J. et al. Expression of CCR6 on B cells in systemic lupus erythematosus patients. Clin Rheumatol 36, 1453–1456 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-017-3652-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-017-3652-3