Increased Circulating Th1 and Tfh1 Cell Numbers Are Associated with Disease Activity in Glucocorticoid-Treated Patients with IgG4-Related Disease

Figure 1

Analyses of Th cell subsets in active IgG4-RD patients, remission IgG4-RD patients, and healthy controls. Th and Tfh cells in PBMCs were analyzed by FCM. Circulating Th cells were defined as CD3⁺CD4⁺CXCR5^-Foxp3^- cells. Th1, Th2 plus naïve CD4, and Th17 cell subsets were defined as CXCR3⁺CCR6^- cells, CXCR3^-CCR6^- cells, and CXCR3^-CCR6⁺ cells within Th cells. Circulating Tfh cells were defined as CD3⁺CD4⁺CXCR5⁺Foxp3^- cells. Tfh1, Tfh2, and Tfh17 cell subsets were defined as CXCR3⁺CCR6^- cells, CXCR3^-CCR6^- cells, and CXCR3^-CCR6⁺ cells among Tfh cells. (a) Representative dot plots of flow cytometry analysis and Th1, Th2 plus naïve CD4, and Th17 subsets were shown. (b) The absolute numbers (per μL) and frequencies of circulating Th cell subsets in active IgG4-RD patients (), remission IgG4-RD patients (), and HC (). The error bars represented the median and interquartile range. The Mann–Whitney test was used to compare the subset levels. ns, (not significant); ; ; .

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