Association of Pathogenic Th17 Cells with the Disease Severity and Its Potential Implication for Biological Treatment Selection in Psoriasis Patients

Figure 3

Th17 cells in peripheral blood of psoriasis patients could display conventional or pathogenic phenotype and correlate with the PASI score. PBMC from healthy and psoriasis subjects were stimulated for 72 h with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 antibodies and analyzed by flow cytometry. (a) Representative plots for Th17 cell (CD4⁺ RORγt⁺) identification. (b) Quantification of the percentage of Th17 cells (CD4⁺ RORγt⁺) in healthy () and psoriasis subjects (), Mann-Whitney test. (c) Representative plots of IL-17 and IFN-γ expression by Th17 cells in a healthy subject and three psoriasis patients. (d) Percentage of pathogenic Th17 cells (CD4⁺ RORγt⁺ IFN-γ⁺) in healthy donors () and psoriasis patients (), Mann-Whitney test. (e) Spearman’s correlation between the percentage of pathogenic Th17 cells (CD4⁺ RORγt⁺ IFN-γ⁺) and the PASI score (). (f) Quantification of pathogenic Th17 lymphocytes (CD4⁺ CD161⁺ RORγt⁺ IFN-γ⁺) in healthy () and psoriasis () subjects, Mann-Whitney test. (g) Spearman’s correlation between the percentage of pathogenic Th17 cells (CD4⁺ CD161⁺ RORγt⁺ IFN-γ⁺) and the PASI score (). , .

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