Figure 4.

Analysis of different cytokine-secreting mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and in healthy controls (HC). Circulating cytokine-secreting mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells were analyzed as described in Section “Patients and Methods” and gated as described in Figure 2. Absolute numbers (cells/mm³) were obtained by multiplying the percentages of these cytokine-secreting MAIT cells by the total T lymphocyte number. AS patients exhibited a significant higher number of IL-22- and IFN-γ-secreting MAIT cells (A), IFN-γ-negative IL-22-positive MAIT cells (B), and IFN-γ negative IL-17A-positive MAIT cells (C) than HC. IFN-γ-negative IL-17A-positive MAIT cell counts are found increased only in female AS patients when compared with healthy women (D). Data are depicted as box plots (the band inside the box corresponds to the median). Each symbol represents an AS patient (squares, n = 18 or 7) or HC (circles, n = 17 or 13).