Evaluation of EBV- and HCMV-Specific T Cell Responses in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) Patients Using a Normalized Enzyme-Linked Immunospot (ELISPOT) Assay

Figure 5

PBMCs from 55 HCMV-seropositive SLE patients (SLE (sero+)), 26 HCMV-seropositive healthy controls (healthy (sero+)), and 22 HMCV-seronegative controls (controls (sero-)) were evaluated in response to pp-65, IE-1, and IE-2 peptide pools (15 amino acids in length with an 11 amino acid overlap). Results were given in terms of net spots/million PBMCs (a) and then normalized to CD4⁺ (b) and CD8⁺ (c) T cell counts. values were calculated with the Mann-Whitney test.

(a)

(b)

(c)