Table 2.
Absolute number of circulating CD3+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, percentage ofactivated CD4+ T cells, regulatory CD4+ T cells (Treg) and percentage of cells expressing intracellular CTLA-4 in healthy controls, patients with Spondylarthropathies and rheumatoid arthritis
|
Healthy controls (n = 15) |
Spondylarthropathies (n = 32) |
Rheumatoid arthritis (n = 22) |
P | |
| CD3+ T cells (/mm3) | 1397 ± 79 (925 to 1806) |
1360 ± 80.8 (622 to 2681) |
1129 ± 140 (336 to 3024) |
0.005 (KW) RA vs HC 0.004 (MW) SpA vs HC NS SpA vs RA 0.007 (MW) |
| CD4+ T cells (/mm3) | 817 ± 45 (449 to 1024) |
875 ± 49.5 (391 to 1699) |
804 ± 102 (239 to 2306) |
NS |
| CD8+ T cells (/mm3) | 573 ± 47 (379 to 860) |
457 ± 39.6 (130 to 979) |
326 ± 52 (72 to 1260) |
0.0006 (KW) RA vs HC 0.0007 (MW) SpA vs HC 0.051 RA vs SpA 0.006 (MW) |
|
HLA-DR+ Foxp3- CD4+ T cells (% of CD4+ T cells) |
16.6 ± 5.53 (5 to 70) |
22.03 ± 4.56 (4 to 100) |
12.14 ± 1.29 (5 to 26) |
NS |
|
CD25+ Foxp3+ CD4+ T cells (% of CD4+T cells) |
7.94 ± 1.04 (3.6 to 16) |
8.2 ± 0.61 (4 to 14.4) |
8.72 ± 0.7 (2.9 to 13.5) |
NS |
| Intracellular CTLA-4 in CD4+ T cells (%) | 4.35 ± 1.10 (1 to 13.3) |
2.51 ± 0.40 (0 to 5.9) |
1.35 ± 0.48*,§ (0 to 7.5) |
0.005 (KW) RA vs HC 0.003 SpA vs HC NS RA vs SpA 0.02 |
| Intracellular CTLA-4 in CD4+ Treg (%) | 2.76 ± 0.44 (0.5 to 6.3) |
1.88 ± 0.34 (0 to 5) |
0.90 ± 0.32*,§ (0 to 3.9) |
0.007 (KW) RA vs HC 0.0045 SpA vs HC NS SpA vs RA 0.027 |
| Intracellular CTLA-4 in Activated CD4+ T cells (%) | 1.59 ± 0.72 (0 to 7) |
0.63 ± 0.26 (0 to 5) |
0.5 ± 0.29 (0 to 5) |
NS |
| Intracellular CTLA-4 in CD8+ T cells (%) | 2.03 ± 0.57 (0.4 to 7) |
2.64 ± 0.32 (0 to 6.3) |
3.49 ± 0.88 (0.1 to 13.7) |
NS |
| Intracellular CTLA-4 in CD3- lymphocytes (%) | 0.89 ± 0.72 (0 to 8) |
0.67 ± 0.21 (0 to 3.3) |
3.50 ± 0.77*,§ (0 to 11) |
0.0025 (KW) RA vs HC 0.0077 SpA vs HC NS SpA vs RA: 0.0017 |
| Intracellular CTLA-4 in the lymphocyte gate (total lymphocytes) (%) | 7.27 ± 1.27 (1.4 to 15) |
3 ± 0.48 (0 to 7.6) |
6.89 ± 1.3§ (0.1 to 19.3) |
0.004 (KW) RA vs HC 0.0045 SpA vs HC NS SpA vs RA 0.007 |
Percentage of intracellular CTLA-4 was determined by flow cytometry. Results are expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean, (range). The Kruskal-Wallis (KW) test was used to compare T cell subsets and intracellular CTLA-4 expression in the three groups. Then, Mann-Whitney U-test was used to calculate the exact P values between two groups.
HC = healthy controls; HLA = Histocompatibility Leukocyte Antigen; KW = Kruskal-Wallis; MW = Mann-Whitney; NS = not significant; RA = rheumatoid arthritis; SpA = spondylarthropathie.