Fig. 3. The observed effects of HL on composition and maturation of peripheral lymphocytes are reversed following anti-PD1 therapy.

A Lymphocyte subsets in percent of CD45⁺ lymphocytes or T cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) patients before therapy (BT, n = 72), sequential samples obtained 1 and 8 weeks after treatment initiation (TP1, n = 72 and TP2, n = 68) and after completion of systemic treatment (TP3, n = 62). Samples containing ≤100 CD45⁺ cells were excluded. B Differences in T-cell activation (CD69⁺%Tcells, CD25⁺%Tcells, and CD62L⁺%Tcells) and T-cell differentiation (CCR7⁻CD45RA⁻ effector memory (EM) T cells) of HL patients before (BT) and during the course of therapy (TP1-TP3). C Differences in B-cell activation (CD86⁺%Bcells) and B-cell differentiation (plasmablasts%Bcells) of HL patients before therapy (BT) and during the course of therapy (TP1–TP3). D Representative flow cytometry plots of peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from a HL patient before therapy (BT) and after completion of treatment (TP3). CD25⁺ activated T cells (left two plots) and CCR7⁻CD45RA⁻ effector-memory T cells are shown (right two plots). Significant differences calculated by nonparametric Kruskal–Wallis test followed by Dunn’s post hoc test (A–C) are indicated by asterisks. *p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.01, ***p ≤ 0.001, ****p ≤ 0.0001. When appropriate, mean ± SD is indicated.