Ku Shao-Wei, Fu Tzu-Hua, You Huey-Ling, Su Yu-Jih, Huang Wan-Ting
Department of Laboratory Medicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung 83301, Taiwan.
Department of Pathology, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung 83301, Taiwan.
Diagnostics (Basel). 2025 Jul 4;15(13):1710. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics15131710.
Although autoimmune diseases differ in their pathogenesis, B cells play a central role in many of them, and alterations in peripheral B cell subpopulations have been observed. Therefore, we aimed to explore the possibility of peripheral B cell subpopulations as a biomarker for autoimmune diseases based on their alternation. We prospectively collected blood samples from 54 patients with various autoimmune diseases and 65 healthy controls. The percentages of B cell subpopulations were evaluated using flow cytometry. A scoring system was developed and the largest Youden's index was used to determine the optimal cutoff point. The frequencies of double-negative B cells and antibody-secreting cells were significantly higher in patients than in controls (median: 2.9% vs. 1.5%, < 0.001; median: 3.6% vs. 2.1%, = 0.001, respectively). Among the patients, those with systemic lupus erythematosus showed the most impact on the alteration of peripheral B cell subpopulations, which was correlated with disease activity. Furthermore, the scoring system effectively distinguished patients from healthy controls. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curves was 0.752 (95% confidence interval: 0.664-0.840), and the optimal cutoff value of ≥10 points yielded a sensitivity and specificity of 70.4% and 70.8%, respectively. Peripheral B cell subpopulations in patients with autoimmune diseases are significantly different from those in healthy individuals and can vary between diseases. Therefore, alterations in B cell populations may be a potential biomarker for diagnosing and evaluating autoimmune diseases.
尽管自身免疫性疾病的发病机制各不相同，但B细胞在其中许多疾病中都起着核心作用，并且已观察到外周B细胞亚群的改变。因此，我们旨在基于外周B细胞亚群的改变探索其作为自身免疫性疾病生物标志物的可能性。我们前瞻性地收集了54例患有各种自身免疫性疾病的患者和65名健康对照者的血样。使用流式细胞术评估B细胞亚群的百分比。开发了一种评分系统，并使用最大约登指数来确定最佳截断点。患者中双阴性B细胞和抗体分泌细胞的频率显著高于对照组（中位数：2.9%对1.5%，<0.001；中位数：3.6%对2.1%，=0.001）。在患者中，系统性红斑狼疮患者对外周B细胞亚群的改变影响最大，这与疾病活动相关。此外，该评分系统有效地将患者与健康对照区分开来。受试者工作特征曲线下面积为0.752（95%置信区间：0.664 - 0.840），最佳截断值≥10分的敏感性和特异性分别为70.4%和70.8%。自身免疫性疾病患者的外周B细胞亚群与健康个体的显著不同，并且在不同疾病之间可能有所差异。因此，B细胞群体的改变可能是诊断和评估自身免疫性疾病的潜在生物标志物。
