The Numerical Predominance and Large Transcriptome Differences of Neutrophils in Peripheral Blood Together Inevitably Account for a Reported Pulmonary Tuberculosis Signature

Figure 1

Calculation of putative whole blood PTBsig (pPTBsig). Median cell proportions of the four separated cell populations in HC donors and PTB patients (i.e., neutrophils, monocytes, and CD4+ and CD8+ T cells) were obtained from Figure b of the published research [2]. The cell proportions were also artificially exchanged between neutrophils and the other three cell populations (e.g., Mono::Neut, exchange of cell proportions between monocytes and neutrophils). Then the integrated probe intensity (IPI) for each probe/transcript in PTBsig was calculated based on its probe intensity (PI) in the four cell populations and the (exchanged) cell proportions. Next, IPI was log₂ transformed and subtracted from the median log₂ IPI in HC donors. The output profiles demonstrated the relative expression levels (log₂ transformed fold changes) of each probe/transcript in PTB patients compared to HC donors. pHC = pPTBsig based on the four cell populations from HC donors in Test_set_separated with no exchange of cell proportions. pHC_Mono::Neut = pPTBsig based on the four cell populations from HC donors in Test_set_separated with the exchange of cell proportions between neutrophils and monocytes. The other pPTBsig names were derived by similar abbreviation.