Table 3.
Phenotypic characterization of T-cell subpopulations
| Patients | Controls | |||||
| median | IQR* | median | IQR | |||
| Th cells | % | 10.2 | 4.7-23.9 | 50.9 | 43.5-54.7 | P = 0.002 |
| cells/μL | 1 585 | 1 275-2 533 | 1 029 | 785-1 428 | P = 0.05 | |
| naive Th cells | % | 46.4 | 27.2-49.5 | 51.1 | 46.5-62.5 | NS |
| cells/μL | 715 | 381-834 | 533 | 363-786 | NS | |
| thymicnaive Th cells | % | 54.4 | 41.9-63.6 | 64.1 | 58.4-70.1 | NS |
| cells/μL | 345 | 228-447 | 333 | 223-545 | NS | |
| Treg | % | 4.8 | 3.3-6.1 | 5.4 | 4.7-7.4 | NS |
| cells/μL | 82 | 44-123 | 62 | 44-80 | NS | |
| thymicnaive-Treg | % | 2.0 | 1.5-3.0 | 1.8 | 1.0-2.9 | NS |
| cells/μL | 8 | 4-17 | 7 | 4-11 | NS | |
| TEM | % | 22.4 | 10.9-31.9 | 10.4 | 8.0-11.5 | P = 0.04 |
| cells/μL | 245 | 202-367 | 98 | 80-146 | P = 0.0002 | |
| TCM | % | 30.8 | 24.1-40.1 | 30.7 | 26.7-37.8 | NS |
| cells/μL | 520 | 270-957 | 308 | 248-401 | NS | |
| CTL | % | 4.1 | 3.0-9.0 | 24.8 | 22.2-29.0 | P < 0.0001 |
| cells/μL | 479 | 350-780 | 483 | 387-539 | NS | |
T-cell subpopulations were determined by six-color flow cytometric analysis using various combinations of monoclonal antibodies. The percentage of Th cells and CTL is obtained after gating on lymphocytes, that of naive Th cells, Treg, TEM and TCM after gating on Th cells, and that of thymicnaive Th cells after gating on naive Th cells. The percentage of thymicnaive Treg is obtained after gating on thymicnaive Th cells. *Abbreviations: IQR, Interquartile range; Th cells, T helper cells; Treg, regulatory T cells; TEM, effector memory T cells; TCM, central memory T cells; CTL, cytotoxic T cells.