Biologic therapy affects peripheral blood memory B cells in rheumatoid arthritis patients irrespective of response to treatment.

<p>The frequency of peripheral blood B cell subpopulations was analyzed by flow cytometry in established RA patients before and after an average of 8 months of biologic therapy with TNF-inhibitors and/ or tocilizumab, based on whether the patients presented a low to moderate disease activity (DAS28<3.2) or high disease activity (DAS28>3.2) after treatment. Differences were considered statistically significant for <i>p</i><0.05 (Wilcoxon signed-rank test).