Fig. 1.

Gating strategy and different subsets of lymphocytes in healthy controls (HC) and patients with SSc. a Gating strategy that was applied in this study to quantify T cells, B cells, and Treg. iNKT cells were identified via CD3 and PBS57-CD1d-Tetramer staining. b T and B cells, c T cell subsets, d Treg (gated on CD4 Th cells), e iNKT cells, f iNKT cell subsets, and g intracellular cytokine staining for IFN-γ, IL-4, and IL-17 in iNKT cells from healthy controls and SSc patients. Absolute iNKT cell numbers per milliliter of blood were calculated as a percentage of total lymphocytes. Bars indicate SD. *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001