Table 2.
Phenotypic analysis of CD4+CD25−Foxp3 + T cells and CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg cells
| Phenotypic biomarkers | HCs | RA | p value (HCs vs RA) |
|---|---|---|---|
| CTLA4%/CD4+CD25−Foxp3+ T cells | 56.69 (46.61–67.39)*† | 36.36 (28.29–42.95)† | 0.002 |
| CTLA4%/CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg cells | 70.50 (60.25–74.35) | 40.40 (27.40–54.00) | < 0.001 |
| CTLA4%/CD4+CD25+Foxp3− effector T cells | 3.12 (2.49–12.83) | 10.61 (5.93–24.91) | 0.156 |
| GITR% /CD4+CD25−Foxp3+ T cells | 61.40 (56.84–70.87)* | 51.52 (32.35–61.85) | 0.048 |
| GITR% /CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg cells | 75.03 (64.58–76.91) | 35.92 (27.18–61.66) | 0.001 |
| GITR% /CD4+CD25+Foxp3− effector T cells | 52.08(50.73–65.55) | 53.18(27.60–66.13) | 0.615 |
| ICOS%/CD4+CD25−Foxp3+ T cells | 44.96 (35.15–51.90)† | 40.74 (26.86–47.78)† | 0.763 |
| ICOS%/CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg cells | 40.74(26.86–47.78) | 33.94 (30.60–51.11) | 0.971 |
| ICOS%/CD4+CD25+Foxp3− effector T cells | 20.00 (13.60–30.17) | 26.14 (15.78–30.67) | 0.280 |
| Helios%/CD4+CD25−Foxp3+ T cells | 70.18 (53.33–75.60)† | 58.52 (50.70–63.42) *† | 0.220 |
| Helios%/CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg cells | 73.35(58.02–85.93) | 76.18 (72.28–80.39) | 0.790 |
| Helios%/CD4+CD25+Foxp3− effector T cells | 31.11 (3.99–42.60) | 10.18 (5.04–20.56) | 0.097 |
All the data were demonstrated as median [IQR, 25th-75th percentile]
HCs, healthy controls; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; CTLA4, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte associated protein 4; GITR, glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor receptor; ICOS, inducible T-cell costimulator; Helios, IKAROS family zinc finger 2
*Indicates significance (p < 0.05) compared with CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg cells in RA group or HCs
†Indicates significance (p < 0.05) compared with CD4+CD25+Foxp3− effector T cells in RA group or HCs