Table 2.
Immunological biomarkers of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.
| Parameters | Healthy controls (HC) Median ± IQR (n = 7) | Remission RA group (RR) Median ± IQR (n = 14) | Active RA group (AR) Median ± IQR (n = 13) | p value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HC vs RR | HC vs AR | AR vs RR | ||||
| T cell sub-population (% of CD4+ T cells) | ||||||
| Foxp3+ Treg | 3.95 ± 0.55 | 3.07 ± 1.47 | 2.01 ± 0.82 | 0.138 | 0.003** | 0.001** |
| CD4+CD25high+CD127low− | 4.37 ± 1.34 | 3.69 ± 0.95 | 2.92 ± 2.24 | 0.195 | 0.183 | 0.132 |
| CD4+CD25+ | 2.28 ± 2.51 | 2.71 ± 8.88 | 12.44 ± 21.10 | 0.004** | 0.009** | 0.356 |
| CD4+CD25+CD127+ | 1.14 ± 2.04 | 7.70 ± 7.73 | 13.48 ± 11.31 | 0.008** | 0.018* | 0.043* |
| Foxp3+ Treg ratioa | 3.83 ± 4.95 | 0.46 ± 0.83 | 0.14 ± 0.52 | 0.010* | 0.009** | 0.033* |
| CD4+CD25high+CD127low− ratiob | 3.54 ± 4.88 | 0.66 ± 0.95 | 0.34 ± 0.38 | 0.014* | 0.009** | 0.044* |
| Inhibitory activity# | ||||||
| % Inhibition | 64.18 ± 2.96 | 57.24 ± 18.11 | 23.67 ± 10.94 | 0.448 | < 0.0001*** | < 0.0001*** |
| Suppressive cytokine | ||||||
| TGF-β (ng/mL) | 27.09 ± 70.23 | 237.6 ± 183.9 | 304.3 ± 157.9 | 0.002** | 0.001** | 0.087 |
| IL-10 (pg/mL) | 38.70 ± 15.71 | 47.7 ± 15.7 | 68.3 ± 27.7 | 0.853 | 0.013* | 0.049* |
| Pro-inflammatory cytokine (pg/mL) | ||||||
| IL-2 | 4.12 ± 1.93 | 2.9 ± 1.7 | 6.9 ± 7.4 | 0.230 | 0.339 | 0.744 |
| IL-4 | 34.66 ± 36.87 | 36.3 ± 27.4 | 87.6 ± 105.4 | 0.308 | 0.055 | 0.458 |
| IL-5 | < 1.9 (all samples) | < 1.9 (all patients) | < 1.9 (all patients) | – | – | – |
| IL-6 | 1.87 ± 0.82 | 4.7 ± 3.5 | 12.6 ± 10.8 | 0.109 | 0.028* | 0.006** |
| IL-9 | 3.92 ± 2.76 | 3.1 ± 1.2 | 6.5 ± 7.7 | 0.378 | 0.093 | 0.694 |
| IL-13 | 1.87 ± 0.88 | 2.6 ± 2.5 | 5.3 ± 6.4 | 0.473 | 0.121 | 0.316 |
| IL-17A | 1.94 ± 1.40 | 3.0 ± 1.5 | 11.7 ± 12.0 | 0.454 | 0.002** | 0.009** |
| IL-17F | 1.98 ± 5.36 | 4.5 ± 2.4 | 5.0 ± 2.3 | 0.541 | 0.382 | 0.189 |
| IL-21 | 12.51 ± 12.21 | 11.5 ± 7.1 | 21.1 ± 30.1 | 0.405 | 0.190 | 0.965 |
| IL-22 | 40.06 ± 29.97 | 40.7 ± 16.7 | 44.0 ± 21.0 | 0.781 | 0.861 | 0.827 |
| INF-γ | 12.04 ± 10.80 | 11.5 ± 5.8 | 19.2 ± 15.1 | 0.926 | 0.055 | 0.239 |
| TNF-α | 12.59 ± 15.48 | 24.1 ± 12.9 | 55.1 ± 68.8 | 0.459 | 0.045* | 0.033* |
aFoxp3+ Treg:CD4+CD25+CD127+.
bCD4+CD25high+CD127low−:CD4+CD25+CD127+.
Significance at *p value < 0.05, **p value < 0.01, ***p value < 0.0001 (Independent t-test and Mann–Whitney U test).
#Reported by mean ± SD, IL interleukin, INF-γ interferon gamma, TGF-β transforming growth factor beta.