Figure 1.

High percentage of CXCR3^loT-bet^hi effector memory CD4⁺ cells in patients with SLE. PBMCs were obtained from 31 healthy donors (HDs) and 60 SLE patients, and CD3⁺CD4⁺ T cells were gated. (A) Expression levels of T-bet and CXCR3 in CD4⁺ T cells were analyzed by intracellular staining using flow cytometry and shown in representative dot plots (left panel) and scatter plots of percentage of CXCR3^loT-bet^hi cells (right panel). (B) CCR7 and CD45RA were double-stained in CD4⁺ T cells and gated in R1 (CXCR3^-T-bet^-), R2 (CXCR3^hiT-bet^lo), and R3 (CXCR3^loT-bet^hi) in CD4⁺ T cells in patients with SLE. (C) T-bet and CD28 in CD4⁺ T cells were double-stained in CD4⁺ T cells. (D) CD28 and CXCR5/CCR6 were double-stained in CD4⁺ T cells. Percentages of CXCR5⁺ cells in CD28^+/-CD4⁺ cells and CCR6⁺ cells in CD28^+/-CD4⁺ cells of SLE patients (n = 43) were shown in scatter plots. (E) Percentages of CD38⁺HLA-DR⁺ among CD4⁺ T cells were analyzed for HDs and SLE patients by flow cytometry and shown in the scatter plots. (F) Representative dot plots (left) and scatter plots (right) of expression of CD38 and HLA-DR in R1, R2 and R3 in CD4⁺ T cells from patients with SLE. (G) Expression of T-bet and Foxp3 in CD4⁺ T cells from patients with SLE was shown in the representative dot plots. (H) Representative dot plots of expression of T-bet and IFN-γ in CD4⁺ cells in HDs and SLE patients were shown (left). Percentages of T-bet^hiIFN-γ⁺ cells among CD4⁺ T cells from HDs and SLE patients were shown in scatter plots (right). For T-bet and IFN-γ staining, PBMCs were incubated with PMA (50 ng/ml, ionomycin (1 μg/ml) and breferdin (2.5 μg/ml) for 1 h at 37°C. *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001.