Activated Circulating T Follicular Helper Cells Are Associated with Disease Severity in Patients with Psoriasis

Figure 2

Higher infiltration of Tfh cells in psoriasis lesions. (a) Representative immunohistochemical staining of Tfh in psoriasis lesions (PL), nonlesional skin tissues of psoriasis patients (PNL), and normal skin tissues of healthy controls (HC). Tfh cells are double stained for CD4 (brown, on cell membrane) and CXCR5 (blue, on cell membrane). There are no Tfh cells infiltrated in skin tissues of healthy controls. (b) The number of Tfh cells in psoriasis lesions is significantly increased compared with nonlesional skin tissues of psoriasis patients, which was evaluated quantitatively by 2 independent observers from 3 representative fields (200x). (c) The number of infiltrated Tfh cells in psoriasis lesions is not associated with disease severity, as assessed by psoriasis area severity index (PASI) score. value is shown. (d) Costaining of CD4 and CXCR5 in skin tissues from psoriasis patients and healthy controls by immunofluorescence. Representative staining shows CD4 (green) and CXCR5 (red) cells. DAPI was used to counterstain nuclear DNA (blue). The 2-color merged panels were shown with colocalization visible in yellow. Representative staining at an original magnification of 400x is shown.

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