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. 2018 Dec 18;20:278. doi: 10.1186/s13075-018-1778-6

Fig. 5.

Fig. 5

Changes in the composition of the naive CD45RA+ regulatory T cell (Treg)/responder T cell (Tresp) pool and the CD31 Treg/Tresp pool during the course of life in healthy volunteers (n = 94) and SLE patients (n = 78). The percentages of recent thymic emigrant (RTE) and mature naive (MN) Tregs/Tresps within the naive CD45RA+ Treg/Tresp pool, as well as those of MN Tregs/Tresps within the total CD31 Treg/Tresp pool, were estimated in healthy volunteers (black diamonds) and SLE patients (red diamonds). The figures present the regression lines concerning the changes of the Treg/Tresp subsets with age (ac and gi) or with their Ki67-expression (df and jl). Significant changes with age are marked by black p values (healthy volunteers) or red p values (SLE patients). In SLE patients, age-independent significantly decreased (red downward arrow) percentages of RTE Tregs within the naive CD45RA+ Treg pool (a) but increased (red upward arrow) percentages of MNs within the naive CD45RA+ Treg pool (b) (marked by red p* values) were detected, but not for RTE Tresps or for MN Tresps within the total CD45RA+ Tresp pool (g and h). A significant negative correlation between the percentage of RTE Tregs/Tresps and their Ki67 expression was found for both healthy volunteers and SLE patients (d and j). A significant correlation between the percentage of MN Tregs within total naive CD45RA+ Tregs and their Ki67 expression was not found for healthy volunteers or for SLE patients (e). A significant positive correlation was found between the percentage of MN Tresps within total naive CD45RA+ Tresps and their Ki67 expression which could not be assessed for SLE patients (k). The percentage of resting naive MN Tregs within total CD31 Tregs decreased significantly with age (c), while that of resting naive MN Tresps increased slightly, but not significantly, within total CD31 Tresps (i). A significant negative correlation between the percentage of resting naive MN Tregs within total CD31 Tregs and their Ki67 expression was found for both study groups (f). In contrast, the percentage of MN Tresps within CD31 Tresps did not correlate with their Ki67 expression in healthy controls but showed a nearly significant negative correlation for SLE patients (l)