A lower total number of CD19+B cells at baseline and at month one was observed in patients with severe infections compared to patients without severe infections in the RTX arm (114.8/μL (range: 25.7–759.1) vs 276.7/μL (range: 14.0–1282.1); p=0.022 and 0.6/μL (range: 0.2–3.5) vs 1.9/μL (range: 0.0–273.0); p=0.005; respectively; figure 3A), while no differences in the CD5+B cells and CD3+T cells were observed. This evidence concerns the gene CD5 and infection.