Fig 3. Change in the frequencies of Th17 and Treg cells (including the nTreg, eTreg, and non-Treg fractions) in the peripheral blood of patients with rheumatoid arthritis at the main timepoints of the study set at T0 (baseline, before starting the low-sodium dietary regimen), T1 (after 1 week, at the end of the “run-in” period of low-sodium dietary regimen), T3 (after 3 weeks, at the end of low-sodium dietary regimen), and T5 (at the end of the study, after 2 weeks of normal sodium dietary regimen).
(A) No significant change in the frequencies of Th17 cells between the main timepoints of the study. (B) No significant change in the frequencies of Treg cells between the main timepoints of the study. (C) The frequency of non-Treg fraction of Treg cells (exhibiting the capability to trans-differentiate into Th17 cells and indeed being positive for the intracellular staining with IL-17 mAb) significantly decreased at the end of the study with respect to baseline. Data are shown as Tukey boxplots; lines represent the median level with 25th-75th percentile; data not included between the whiskers are plotted as outliers with dots.