The proportion and phenotypic changes of CD4+CD25−Foxp3+ T cells in patients with untreated rheumatoid arthritis

BMC Immunology

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

ISSN: 1471-2172