Fig. 4

Early RA patients achieving drug-induced remission show a reduction in citrulline-specific T cells. a + b) Frequency of (a) influenza- and citrulline-specific T cells in patients achieving remission (DAS28 at 6 m < 2.6) versus patients not achieving remission (DAS28 at 6 m > 2.6) and (b) of T cells reactive to citrullinated α-enolase, citrullinated CILP/FGB and citrullinated vimentin is depicted at baseline (0 m) and follow-up visit (6 m) for 10 early RA patients. Plotted are tetramer-positive cells per million CD4+ T cells. Cut-off for positivity is one tetramer-positive cell per million CD4+ T cells and depicted by a dotted line. Green symbols and lines depict the patients that achieved clinical remission at follow-up. The patient with missing DAS28-value at 6 m is coloured in grey. The numbers of positive tested individuals/totally tested individuals for each time point is depicted below the graphs showing α-enolase-, CILP/FGB- and vimentin-specific T cells. (c) Phenotypic characterisation of antigen-specific CD4+ T cells according to simultaneous or singular expression of CD45RA and CCR7 in central memory (Tcm) and effector memory (Tem) T cells. Plotted are frequencies and the mean for citrullinated α-enolase-, citrullinated CILP/FGB-, citrullinated vimentin- and influenza-specific T cells as well as the general CD4+ population at 0 m (squares) and 6 m follow-up (triangles). Green symbols depict the patients that achieved clinical remission at follow-up. Statistical analysis was performed using Mann-Whitney test when comparing the frequency of central memory T cells at baseline with the follow-up time point. p-values less than 0.05 were considered significant and marked with an asterisk