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BackgroundAlthough type 1 diabetes (T1D) is typically described as a T cell-mediated autoimmune disease, increasing evidence for a role of B cells has emerged. However, the pivotal disease-relevant B cell subset and its contribution to islet autoimmunity remain elusive.MethodsThe frequencies and phenotypic characteristics of circulating B cell subsets were analyzed using flow cytometry in individuals with new-onset T1D, long-term T1D, type 2 diabetes, and nondiabetic controls, and also in a prospective cohort of patients receiving mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) transplantation. NOD mice and adoptive transfer assay were used to dissect the role of the certain B cell subset in disease progression. An in-vitro coculture system of islets with immune cells was established to examine the response against islets and the underlying mechanisms.ResultsWe identified that plasmablasts, a B cell subset at the antibody-secreting stage, were significantly increased and correlated with the deterioration of beta cell function in patients with new-onset T1D. Further, a fall of plasmablast number was associated with the preservation of beta cell function in patients who received MSC transplantation after 3 months of follow-up. Meanwhile, a gradual increase of plasmablasts in pancreatic lymph nodes during the natural progression of insulitis was observed in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice; adoptive transfer of plasmablasts together with T cells from NOD mice accelerated diabetes onset in NOD/SCID recipients.ConclusionsOur study revealed that plasmablasts may function as antigen-presenting cells and promote the activation and proinflammatory response of CD4+T cells, further contributing to the T cell-mediated beta cell destruction. Our results provide insights into the pathogenic role of plasmablasts in islet autoimmunity and may offer new translational strategies for inhibiting T1D development.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Reagents used for flow cytometry. Figure S1. Flow cytometry gating strategy in mice. Figure S2. Features of plasmablasts in patients with new-onset T1D. Figure S3. Reconstruction of adoptively transferred cells in the PLNs of recipient mice 4 weeks after transfer. Figure S4. The activation of CD8+ T cells is not influenced by plasmablasts. Figure S5. The number of plasmablasts did not correlate with beta cell function in patients with long-term T1D or T2D. Figure S6. Individual staining of CD138, CD4, CD8, and insulin (related to Fig. 4J). Figure S7. Individual staining of CD138, CD4, CD8, and insulin (related to Fig. 5C). Figure S8. Plasmablasts promote the IFN-�� production by T cells in T1D (answer to the reviewer).

Antenna-in-Package(AiP) technology has an advantage that a system can maintain antenna performance while being small in size and highly integrated. In this paper, based on LTCC technology, a rectangular corner cut microstrip antenna for 5G communication band is designed, and then integrated into a package of the chip with AiP technology. The simulation results of HFSS software show that after miniaturized and highly integrated, the AiP system achieves the goal with operation frequency of 4.8 ~ 4.9GHz, bandwidth of 100MHz and the peak gain of 6.52dB.

A wideband 8-way radial divider/combiner with stepped impedance transformers in ka band is put forward in this paper. Simulation results show that return loss is below −20 dB between 29.4 GHz and 39.2 GHz for a single 8-way power divider; return loss is below −20 dB and insertion loss is better than −0.2 dB for an 8-way power divider/combiner including waveguide/microstrip transitions and microstrip/waveguide transitions from 31.8 GHz to 38.3 GHz.