In this study, we found that untreated early RA patients (<1 year of disease duration, ERA) and established RA patients (MTX treated and before initiating anti-TNF or tocilizumab treatment) had significantly increased levels of DN (IgD-CD27-) B cells when compared to controls, which has also been recently described by others [18, 19]. The gene discussed is TNF; the disease is rheumatoid arthritis.