Human B-1 cells are not preplasmablasts: analysis of microarray data and other issues.

To the editor: We recently reported that human B-1 cells express the phenotype CD20+CD27+CD43+CD70−.[1][1],[2][2] Covens et al[3][3] now assert that B cells with this phenotype resemble plasmablasts and thus represent preplasmablasts. Their conclusion rests to a large extent on microarray data