Slide 1

ICCS 2016 -- Plasmablasts and plasma cells are antibody-producing cells that are implicated in the pathogenesis of autoantibody-driven immune diseases. Plasmablasts are terminally differentiating B cells that are rapidly produced with the majority becoming short-lived effector cells and the minority becoming long-lived plasma cells. Here we describe a fit-for-purpose approach to develop and validate a flow cytometric plasmablast assay using a combination of cell surface markers against CD45, CD19, CD27 and CD38.