Fig. 3.

T cell proliferation, NK cell cytotoxicity, apoptosis, and cell death. A–C CD4 + and CD8 + T cells from patients (P1, P2) and healthy controls (HC) stimulated with anti-CD3/CD28 beads for 48 h. Proliferation was detected by flow cytometry. Proliferation index (number of cell divisions undergone by proliferating T cells) shown in A, frequencies (%) of proliferating T cells shown in B and CD25 CD69 co-expression shown in C. D NK-degranulation and NK cell–mediated cytotoxicity measured as upregulation of CD107a (lysosomalassociated membrane protein 1, LAMP1), or killing of the cell line K562, respectively. E–F Percentage of cell death (Annexin V + , SYTOX Green +) and apoptosis (Annexin V +) detected by flow cytometry in CD3 + T cells from healthy controls (HC) and patients (P1, P2) upon stimulation with IL-2 only or activated by anti-CD3/CD28 antibodies in the presence of IL-2 (α-CD3 + CD28 + IL-2). Representative individual flow plots shown in E, data pooled from two experiments performed on PBMCs isolated from different blood draws shown in F. Bars indicate median. In A–D, 3 healthy controls were used. Statistical analysis using Kruskal–Wallis test. *p < 0.05. ns, non-significant