CD19 + CD21lo/neg cells are increased in systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease

• Published in: Clinical and experimental medicine 2022-05, Vol.22 (2), p.209-220
• Main Authors: Wilfong, Erin M., Vowell, Katherine N., Bunn, Kaitlyn E., Rizzi, Elise, Annapureddy, Narender, Dudenhofer, Rosemarie B., Barnado, April, Bonami, Rachel H., Johnson, Joyce E., Crofford, Leslie J., Kendall, Peggy L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomarkers; CD19 antigen; Cytometry; Embedding; Gating; Hematology; Immunohistochemistry; Internal Medicine; Leukocytes (mononuclear); Lung diseases; Lymphocytes B; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Morbidity; Myositis; Oncology; Original; Original Article; Parenchyma; Patients; Peripheral blood mononuclear cells; Phenotyping; Scleroderma; Stochasticity; Systemic sclerosis
• ISSN: 1591-9528; 1591-8890; 1591-9528
• DOI: 10.1007/s10238-021-00745-5

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) represents a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in systemic sclerosis (SSc). The purpose of this study was to examine recirculating lymphocytes from SSc patients for potential biomarkers of interstitial lung disease (ILD). Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from patients with SSc and healthy controls enrolled in the Vanderbilt University Myositis and Scleroderma Treatment Initiative Center cohort between 9/2017–6/2019. Clinical phenotyping was performed by chart abstraction. Immunophenotyping was performed using both mass cytometry and fluorescence cytometry combined with t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding analysis and traditional biaxial gating. This study included 34 patients with SSc-ILD, 14 patients without SSc-ILD, and 25 healthy controls. CD21 lo/neg cells are significantly increased in SSc-ILD but not in SSc without ILD (15.4 ± 13.3% vs. 5.8 ± 0.9%, p  = 0.002) or healthy controls (5.0 ± 0.5%, p