Table 3.
Effect of immunosuppressive drugs (ISDs) on the proportion of interferon (IFN)‐γ+, interleukin (IL)‐17+ and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)‐α+ CD4+CD25– cells in healthy subjects (HS) and autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) patients.
| HS | AIH | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseline | 48 h | 96 h | Pa | Pb | Pc | Baseline | 48 h | 96 h | Pd | Pe | Pf | |
| % IFN‐γ + cells | ||||||||||||
| No treatment | 5 ± 1·3 | 20·9 ± 1·8 § | 12·8 ± 2 | < 0·001 | 3·1 ± 0·7 | 12·6 ± 3·3h | 20·4 ± 6·3 | < 0·01 | < 0·05 | < 0·001 | ||
| Rapamycin | – | 15·1 ± 2·6 | 10·3 ± 2·4 | – | 10·4 ± 2·3 | 5·3 ± 2i | < 0·05 | |||||
| Prednisolone | – | 14·8 ± 1·4 | 09·2 ± 2·5 | – | 12·3 ± 1·3 | 04·9 ± 1·1i | < 0·001 | |||||
| Cyclosporin | – | 14·1 ± 3·1 | 10·6 ± 2·9 | – | 12·6 ± 1·2 | 02·9 ± 1·1ij | < 0·001 | < 0·01 | ||||
| Tacrolimus | – | 15·2 ± 3·1 | 12·8 ± 3·7 | < 0·05 | – | 08·8 ± 2·8 | 03·7 ± 1·3ij | |||||
| 6‐MP | – | 15·7 ± 3·0 | 08·9 ± 1·8 | < 0·05 | – | 09·2 ± 2·1 | 05·6 ± 0·8 | |||||
| MPA | – | 13·7 ± 1·7 | 13·4 ± 1·9 | – | 09·1 ± 2·3 | 03·6 ± 1·2ij | ||||||
| % IL‐17+ cells | ||||||||||||
| No treatment | 4·8 ± 1·6 | 13·6 ± 2 | 11·7 ± 1·8 | < 0·01 | < 0·05 | 6·8 ± 2·3 | 15·2 ± 5·5 | 19·1 ± 6·7 | ||||
| Rapamycin | – | 11·8 ± 2·5 | 10·9 ± 0·7 | < 0·05 | – | 12·3 ± 4·8 | 12·5 ± 7·3 | |||||
| Prednisolone | – | 12·5 ± 2·9 | 09·1 ± 1·7 | < 0·01 | – | 15 ± 4·8 | 12·7 ± 5·9 | |||||
| Cyclosporin | – | 12·5 ± 1·1 | 10 ± 1·4 | < 0·01 | – | 12·1 ± 3·2 | 6·4 ± 1·6 | |||||
| Tacrolimus | – | 13·5 ± 1·7 | 8·7 ± 2·2 | < 0·01 | – | 13·3 ± 3·3 | 6·1 ± 1·6 | |||||
| 6‐MP | – | 12·9 ± 1·6 | 9·5 ± 1·3 | < 0·01 | – | 12·7 ± 5·4 | 6·5 ± 0·6 | |||||
| MPA | – | 11·8 ± 2·9 | 11·4 ± 2·1 | < 0·05 | < 0·05 | – | 6·9 ± 1·9 | 8·3 ± 2·4 | ||||
| % TNF‐α+ cells | ||||||||||||
| No treatment | 4·7 ± 1·2 | 24·1 ± 2·6 ¶ | 12·6 ± 2·6 | < 0·001 | < 0·001 | 5·1 ± 0·2 | 13·3 ± 3·2 | 21·7 ± 6·5 | ||||
| Rapamycin | – | 18·2 ± 4·4 | 11·9 ± 3·7 | < 0·001 | – | 12·6 ± 3·6 | 17·1 ± 8·2 | |||||
| Prednisolone | – | 22·7 ± 4·9 | 11·6 ± 3·5 | < 0·001 | < 0·01 | – | 14·2 ± 2·0 | 15·5 ± 6·2 | ||||
| Cyclosporin | – | 8·3 ± 1·5g | 8·8 ± 1·8 | – | 9·9 ± 1·9 | 6·7 ± 1·9 | ||||||
| Tacrolimus | – | 8·8 ± 1·9g | 8·3 ± 0·9 | – | 11·1 ± 2·5 | 5·7 ± 1·9 | ||||||
| 6‐MP | – | 18·8 ± 3·4 | 13·2 ± 2·4 | < 0·001 | < 0·05 | – | 11·2 ± 2·9 | 16·7 ± 7·70 | ||||
| MPA | – | 19·1 ± 5·5 | 13·8 ± 2·9 | < 0·001 | < 0·05 | – | 12·8 ± 3·9 | 8·7 ± 3·3 | ||||
Analysis was performed using one‐ or two‐way analysis of variance (anova) test, followed by the Bonferroni post‐test. Only statistically significant differences are reported. §P‐value of anova test comparing the frequency of IFN‐γ+ cells under different treatments in HS at 48 h: < 0·05. ¶ P‐value of anova test comparing the frequency of TNF‐α+ cells under different treatments in HS at 48 h: 0·01. P‐values of post‐test comparing the frequency of cytokine‐positive cells between: Pa, baseline and 48 h in HS; Pb, 48 and 96 h in HS; Pc, baseline and 96 h in HS; Pd, baseline and 48 h in AIH; Pe, 48 and 96 h in AIH; Pf, baseline and 96 h in AIH; Pg, TNF‐α, ‘no treatment’ and treatment with cyclosporin (P < 0·05) and tacrolimus (P < 0·05) at 48 h in HS; Ph, IFN‐γ, HS and AIH patients in the absence of treatment at 48 h (P = 0·02); Pi = ‘no treatment’ and treatment with immunosuppressive drugs (ISDs) at 96 h in AIH (P < 0·001 in all cases); Pj = IFN‐γ+, HS and AIH patients in the presence of cyclosporin (P < 0·05), tacrolimus (P < 0·05) and mycophenolic acid (MPA) (P < 0·01) at 96 h.