Characterization of B-cell lines from SLE patients and their relatives.

Epstein-Barr-virus (EBV)-transformed lymphoblastoid B-cell lines were generated from peripheral blood lymphocytes of 55 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 44 healthy relatives. All donors have previously been extensively characterized with regard to clinical, serologic, and genetic parameters. Here, peripheral blood lymphocytes and lines were characterized for cell surface antigens. Furthermore, autoantibody production and proliferation rate of the cell lines were monitored. A significant difference between patients and relatives was the lower proliferation rate of EBV-transformed cell lines of the SLE patients. All SLE cell lines are available for interested researches and can be obtained from the European Cell Bank, Salisbury, UK.