Figure 2.

Representative dot plots showing the gating strategy used to measure intracellular cytokines among CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells and mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells from healthy controls (HC) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients by flow cytometry. Cells were activated ex vivo as described in Section “Patients and Methods” and stained for the detection of intracellular cytokines. CD3⁺ T cells were gated on total lymphocyte (FSC/SSC plot after doublet exclusion), then MAIT cells were identified as TCRVα7.2 CD161^high among CD3⁺ T cells. Intracellular IL-22, IL-17A, and IFN-γ are quantified among CD4⁺ T cells (A) and MAIT cells (B,C), respectively [(A) vs. (B,C)]. IL-22, IL-17A, and IFN-γ are depicted among MAIT cells for a HC (B), or an AS patient (C).