Treg/Th17 cell balance and phytohaemagglutinin activation of T lymphocytes in peripheral blood of systemic sclerosis patients

Figure 3 Increased percentage of CD4+CD25-Foxp3+ T cells within diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis phenotype vs healthy controls. A: Increased percentage of CD4+CD25-Foxp3+ T cells within dcSSc patients (n = 13) as opposed to controls (n = 16), respectively, 10.94% ± 1.65% vs 6.88% ± 0.91%, P = 0.032. Boxplots are expressed as means ± SD; B-D: Panel B depicts the flow cytometric analysis of CD4+CD25-Foxp3+ T cells. A representative patient with dcSSc phenotype is shown the lymphocytes were gated according to their physical characteristics (FSC and SSC) in R1; afterwards T helper cells were gated in R2. T helpers, which were found negative for CD25 surface expression and positive for Foxp3 intracellular expression (R3, upper left quadrant) were defined as CD4+CD25-Foxp3+ T cells. dcSSc: Diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis.