The Regulation between CD4⁺CXCR5⁺ Follicular Helper T (Tfh) Cells and CD19⁺CD24^hiCD38^hi Regulatory B (Breg) Cells in Gastric Cancer

Figure 2

Proportion of Tfh and Breg cells in gastric cancer patients. Blood samples were collected from 36 cases of gastric cancer patients and 18 cases of healthy people. Representative flow cytometric results were shown. Tfh cells were classified as CXCR5⁺CD4⁺ T cells (a), while Breg cells were classified as CD19⁺CD24^hiCD38^hi cells (c). Compared to control individuals, significantly increased percentage of Tfh cells (b) and Breg cells (d) was found in gastric cancer patients (). A positive association between Tfh% and Breg% was found in gastric cancer patients (e, ), rather than in the healthy group (f, ). Higher CXCL13 level was in the gastric cancer group than in the healthy group (g, ). IL-21 and IL-10 levels have no significant difference (h and i, ). Tfh: follicular help T cells; Breg: regulatory B cells; CXCL13: C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 13; IL-21: interleukin-21; IL-10: interleukin-10; : <0.05; : <0.01; ns: no significance.

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