Figure 4.

Differences of and association of plasma cytokine/chemokine levels with ex vivo expression of distinct co-regulatory receptors on CMV/EBV-specific CD8⁺ T cells in CHC patients. Fifty cytokines and chemokines were measured in the plasma of CHC patients without prior treatment and healthy controls by a multiplex assay. (A) Principal component analysis showed a distinct clusterization of CHC patients (blue) and healthy individuals (yellow) based on the differential concentrations of plasma cytokines and chemokines. (B) Heat map comparing plasma cytokine/chemokine levels showed cytokines and chemokines with significantly differential concentrations between CHC patients and healthy individuals. (C) Correlation analysis of IFN-α2, VCAM-1 (CD106), and ICAM-1 (CD54) with co-regulatory receptor expression revealed a positive correlation of IFN-α2 plasma levels with PD-1 and Tim-3 expression ex vivo. Each patient’s FACS data were correlated individually to the same patient’s cytokine data obtained from the multiplex assay. p- and r²-values are indicated. Cells were gated on lymphocytes and total CD8⁺ T cells after exclusion of dump channel.