Figure 3.

Changes of TGF-β-expression in the CD4⁺CD25⁺ and CD4⁺CD25^– T subsets of SLE patients after stimulation in comparison with healthy controls. TGF-β-expression was determined by flow cytometry for intracellular cytokine analysis (*, P<0.05). Compared with healthy controls, regardless of the stimulation, SLE patients had a decreased percentage of CD25⁺TGF-β⁺ cells in CD4⁺ T cells, but not in CD25^– TGF-β⁺ cells (A,C), and a decreased number of both CD25⁺TGF-β⁺ cells and CD25^– TGF-β⁺ cells in CD4⁺ T cells (B,D).