Figure 2.

Higher percentage of intracellular cytokine production in circulating CD4⁺T_H cells from patients with GPA. Peripheral blood from patients with GPA and HCs was stimulated with PMA and CaI and analysed with flow cytometry for intracellular IL-4, IL-17, IL-21, TNFα and IFNγ cytokine expression. (A) Percentages of IL-4⁺, IL-17⁺ IL-21⁺, TNFα⁺ and IFNγ⁺ CD4⁺T_H cells from patient with GPA in remission (filled squares; n = 27) and HCs (open circles; n = 16). (B) Percentages of TNFα⁺IFNγ⁺, IFNγ⁺IL-17⁺ and IL-17⁺IL-21⁺ within CD4⁺T_H cells from patient with GPA in remission (filled squares; n = 27) and HCs (open circles; n = 16). Horizontal bar represent median percentage. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001 vs HCs. CD4⁺T_H: CD4⁺ T helper; CaI: calcium ionophore; GPA: granulomatosis with polyangiitis; HC: healthy control; PMA: phorbol myristate acetate