Upregulation of cathepsin W-expressing T cells is specific for autoimmune atrophic gastritis compared to other types of chronic gastritis

Figure 2 Presence of CatW-expressing cells among infiltrating immune cells in samples of patients with gastritis. The distribution of CatW- and LCA (leukocyte common antigen, CD45)-expressing cells was separately analyzed by immunohistochemistry in serial sections of tissue specimens. The number of CD45-positive cells was considered as 100% presented as a ratio of 1 at the Y-axis. The ratio of CatW⁺/LCA⁺ cells illustrates the proportion of CatW-expressing cells among leukocytes present in the gastric/duodenal mucosa. Data are shown as box plot for each group (antral mucosa: normal; chemically induced gastritis: NSAID; lymphocytic gastritis: LG; autoimmune gastritis: AIG; H pylori-induced gastritis: H pylori; normal duodenum: duodenum; celiac disease: CD). Boxes represent the 25^th, 50^th, and 75^th percentile values (horizontal lines of the box) and means (squares). Mean values of absolute numbers of CatW-expressing cells per observation field were 0.5, 4.1, 4.2, 10.7, and 41 for normal antral mucosa, H pylori gastritis, NSAID-associated gastritis, LG and AIG, respectively. Tissue specimens from normal duodenum revealed 16 CatW-expressing cells per field, while samples from patient with CD had 6.3 CatW-positive cells in average per field.