Figure 3.

BH3 mimetics revealed that Mcl-1 inhibition was the most effective in reducing plasmablast viability after activation. PBMCs of healthy controls (HD; N = 3), rheumatoid arthritis (RA; N = 3), and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE; N = 4) were stimulated with 1 µg/ml ODN2006 (CpG) for 6 days followed by in vitro treatment with the Bcl-2 inhibitor venetoclax (A–C), Mcl-1 inhibitor S63845 (D–F), or dual Bcl-2/Bcl-XL inhibitor AZD4320 (G–I) for 24 h. Viability data were measured by flow cytometry using DiOC6/TO-PRO-3 staining in CD19+ naïve (N; CD27-/CD38-), memory B cells (Mem; CD27+/CD38-), and plasmablasts (PB; CD27+/CD38+). Two-way Anova test was used for statistical analyses. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM