Table 4.
Characteristics of patients in each CD4 T cells transcriptional cluster
| Cluster 1 N = 42 |
Cluster 2 N = 30 |
Cluster 3 N = 14 |
Cluster 4 N = 24 |
p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (years) | 35 (27–46) | 41 (34–53) | 34 (19–38) | 42 (34–52) | 0.027 |
| Gender (female) | 30 (95.1%) | 29 (96.7%) | 14 (100%) | 22 (91.7%) | 0.790 |
| Ethnicity | |||||
| White | 27 (65.9%) | 17 (56.7%) | 6 (46.2%) | 11 (50.0%) | 0.396 |
| Black | 5 (11.9%) | 5 (16.7%) | 3 (23.1%) | 1 (4.55%) | |
| Asian | 6 (14.3%) | 4 (13.3%) | 4 (30.8%) | 6 (27.3%) | |
| Other | 3 (7.14%) | 4 (13.3%) | 0 | 4 (18.2%) | |
| Disease duration (years) | 8 (6–15) | 11 (9–17) | 8.5 (6–11) | 11.5 (8–20.5) | 0.228 |
| SLICC DI | 0 (0–1) | 0 (0–1) | 0 (0–0.5) | 0 (0–1) | 0.561 |
| ACR criteria | |||||
| Malar rash | 21 (51.2%) | 14 (46.7%) | 9 (64.3%) | 16 (66.7%) | 0.409 |
| Discoid rash | 9 (22.0%) | 1 (3.33%) | 1 (7.14%) | 4 (16.7%) | 0.124 |
| Photosensitivity | 21 (51.2%) | 15 (50.0%) | 9 (64.3%) | 14 (58.3%) | 0.777 |
| Oral ulcers | 24 (58.5%) | 23 (76.7%) | 11 (78.6%) | 10 (41.7%) | 0.032 |
| Arthritis | 38 (92.7%) | 26 (86.7%) | 12 (85.7%) | 21 (87.5%) | 0.815 |
| Serositis | 14 (34.2%) | 7 (23.3%) | 4(28.6%) | 8 (33.3%) | 0.777 |
| Neurological | 3 (7.32%) | 2 (6.67%) | 1 (7.14%) | 2 (8.33%) | 0.997 |
| Renal | 15 (36.6%) | 14 (46.7%) | 7 (50.0%) | 8 (33.3%) | 0.621 |
| Haematological | 22 (52.7%) | 14 (46.7%) | 9 (64.3%) | 18 (75.0%) | 0.174 |
| Immunological | 29 (70.7%) | 24 (80.0%) | 12 (85.7%) | 16 (66.7%) | 0.480 |
| ANA | 37 (90.2%) | 25 (85.3%) | 12 (85.7%) | 22 (91.7%) | 0.754 |
| Disease activity | |||||
| SLEDAI score | 8 (4–2) | 8 (4–12) | 12 (8–18) | 6 (4–12) | 0.145 |
| Active disease (BILAG A/B) | |||||
| Constitutional | 4 (9.76%) | 3 (10.0%) | 1 (7.14%) | 0 | 0.463 |
| Mucocutaneous | 20 (48.8%) | 15 (50.0%) | 6 (42.9%) | 10 (41.7%) | 0.912 |
| Neuropsychiatric | 4 (9.76%) | 3 (10.0%) | 1 (7.14%) | 2 (8.33%) | 0.988 |
| Musculoskeletal | 21 (5.12%) | 17 (56.7%) | 7 (50.0%) | 6 (25.0%) | 0.105 |
| Cardiorespiratory | 4 (9.76%) | 4 (13.3%) | 0 | 5 (20.83%) | 0.267 |
| Gastrointestinal | 2 (4.88%) | 1 (33.3%) | 0 | 2 (8.33%) | 0.669 |
| Ophthalmic | 1 (2.44%) | 2 (6.67%) | 0 | 2 (8.33%) | 0.538 |
| Renal | 13 (31.7%) | 12 (40.0%) | 6 (42.9%) | 8 (33.3%) | 0.826 |
| Haematological | 1 (2.44%) | 2 (6.67%) | 0 | 0 | 0.422 |
| Medication | |||||
| Oral prednisolone | 32 (78.1%) | 29 (96.7%) | 10 (76.9%) | 23 (95.8%) | 0.042 |
| Oral prednisolone dose (mg/day) | 10 (5–20) | 10 (7.5–20) | 10 (5–15) | 12.5 (10–20) | 0.495 |
| MMF exposed | 23 (56.1%) | 13 (43.3%) | 4 (28.6%) | 13 (54.2%) | 0.284 |
| MMF current | 8 (19.5%) | 5 (16.7%) | 3 (21.4%) | 2 (8.33%) | 0.642 |
| AZA exposed | 5 (12.2%) | 2 (6.67%) | 1 (7.14%) | 1 (4.17%) | 0.684 |
| AZA current | 3 (7.32%) | 2 (6.67%) | 1 (7.14%) | 0 | 0.613 |
| MTX exposed | 1 (2.44%) | 0 | 4 (28.7%) | 0 | < 0.001 |
| MTX current | 1 (2.44%) | 0 | 3 (21.4%) | 0 | 0.002 |