Biologic Agents in Crohn’s Patients Reduce CD4⁺ T Cells Activation and Are Inversely Related to Treg Cells

Figure 3

Biological therapy shows a lower percentage of CD4⁺ subsets of cells. Analysis was done previously on gating CD4⁺ T cells. (a) Frequencies of Treg suppressor cells on PBMCs. (b) Percentage of FOXP3⁺CD25⁺CD73⁺CD39⁺ in the groups. (c) The ratio of secretion of IL17 and expression of Treg in the groups of treated patients. Intracellular cytokine staining of PBMCs from a representative Crohn’s patient after stimulation with PMA/ionomycin. (d)-(e) Correlation of percentage of natural Tregs and CD4⁺HLA-DR⁺ T cells and CD4⁺CD38⁺ T cells in Crohn’s patients undergoing biological therapy, respectively. Each dot represents an individual, and bars indicate medians in the graphs. Statistical analysis was performed using the Kruskal–Wallis test and correlation Pearson test with alpha equal to 0.05.

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