Fig. 2.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from newly-diagnosed and RTX-treated multiple sclerosis patients (n = 30 in both groups) and healthy controls (n = 30) were stained with labeled antibodies. (A) Representative dot plots of CD4⁺, CD45RA-, CXCR5⁺ T cells as follicular T helper cells in different groups of samples. First CD4⁺ T cells were gated and CD45RA- CXCR5⁺ T cells in the upper left area of the quadrant were selected. At least about 30,000 events were analyzed for each sample; (B) CD4⁺ CD45RA- CXCR5⁺ T cells were compared between healthy controls, new cases and RTX treated MS patients; (C) representative dot plots of CD4⁺ CD45RA⁺T cells in different groups of samples; (D) CD4⁺ CD45RA⁺ T cells and (E) interleukin 21 concentration were compared between healthy controls, new cases, and RTX-treated multiple sclerosis patients. *P < 0.05 and ** P < 0.01 indicate significant differences between defined groups. RTX, Rituximab.