Figure 5.

CD56^dimNKG2C^hiCD57⁺ NK cells are found in higher frequency in PTLD than in IM patients. (A) Gating strategy for flow cytometric analysis of CD56^dimNKG2C^hiCD57⁺ cells in representative CMV-seronegative (CMV–) IM, CMV-seropositive (CMV+) IM and PTLD patients at diagnosis. (B) Frequency of CD56^dimNKG2C^hiCD57⁺ NK cells in 7 CMV– IM, 6 CMV+ IM and 11 PTLD patients at diagnosis and 12 months time points. (C) Frequency of NKG2A⁺KIR⁻ and (D) NKG2A⁻KIR⁺ within CD56^dimNKG2C^hiCD57⁺ NK cells in CMV-seropositive IM and PTLD patients at diagnosis. Three CMV-seropositive IM patients were excluded in the sub-gating analysis of CD56^dimNKG2C^hiCD57⁺ NK cell subset due to the nearly absence of CD56^dimNKG2C^hiCD57⁺ NK cells. Every dot or triangle represents individual IM and PTLD patients, respectively. CMV-seropositive IM patients are highlighted as red circles. All PTLD patients were seropositive for CMV after liver transplantation. (E) Frequency of CD57⁺ cells within CD56^dim NKG2A⁺KIR⁻ NK cell subset was assessed in 13 IM and 11 PTLD patients at diagnosis to 12 months time points. Median ± interquartile range is shown. Mann-Whitney tests were applied to compare frequencies of NK cell subsets from one group or for comparisons between groups in IM and PTLD patients over time. ns, p > 0.05; *p ≤ 0.05; **p ≤ 0.01; ***p ≤ 0.001; and ****p ≤ 0.0001.