Successful Pregnancy in a Case of Behçet’s Disease after Treatment with Prednisolone

Figure 2

(a, A) Enhanced sensitivity of IL-12R and IL-23R leads to the differentiation of naïve CD4+ cells to Th1 and Th17 cells (red arrows). (B) IL-1, produced mainly by macrophages, increases the number of Th2 cells via PGE2, and IL-12 and IL-18-activate NK cells (red arrows). (C) When Th17 induction is strong, the induction of regulatory T cells (Tregs) reduces (blue arrow), and immune tolerance cannot be reached. MØ: macrophage; Neutro: neutrophil. (b) Th1 cell fraction decreased from 10.1% to 8.1% after prednisolone (PSL) treatment; Th2 cell fraction decreased from 4.2% to 1.6%; and the Th1 to Th2 ratio increased from 2.4 to 5.1. (c) NK cell activity decreased from 56% to 26% after PSL treatment. The patient was administered 10 mg/day PSL for 4 weeks, which improved the immune status.

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