BANK1 alters B cell responses and influences the interactions between B cells and induced T regulatory cells in mice with collagen-induced arthritis

Background Functional variants of the B cell gene, B cell scaffold protein with ankyrin repeats 1 (BANK1) contribute to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) susceptibility, but their influences on B cell responses are unclear. Moreover, the function of induced T regulatory cells (iTregs) in the inflammatory milieu in a collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model is unknown. This study was performed to investigate the roles of BANK1 in CIA and the interaction between B cells and iTregs.