Figure 1.

Flow cytometric analysis of the frequency of peripheral blood TFH cells. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated from individual patients and HC, and stained with anti-CD4 and anti-CXCR5 or isotype controls. Subsequently, the cells were gated on living CD4+ cells, and the percentage of CXCR5+CD4+ TFH cells in total CD4+ T cells was determined. (A) Flow cytometric analysis. (B) Quantitative analysis. Data are expressed as the mean values of individual subjects from two separate experiments and the horizontal lines indicate the median values. OA group, All OA patients (n=40); HC group, healthy controls group (n=13). TFH, follicular helper T; HC, healthy controls; OA, osteoarthritis; CXCR5, chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor 5.