Circulating CD4+CD28null T Cells May Increase the Risk of an Atherosclerotic Vascular Event Shortly after Kidney Transplantation
Figure 3
Expression of cytotoxic molecules and proinflammatory cytokines in the total population of circulating CD4+ T cells and the CD28+ and CD28null subsets within ESRD patients before kidney transplantation. In (a), a typical flow cytometric example is depicted with respect to the dissection of CD4+ T cells into those expressing CD28 (CD4+CD28+) and those lacking CD28 (CD4+CD28null). Next, we determined the cytotoxic potential by analyzing percentages of perforin+ (b) and Granzyme B+ (c) CD4+ T cells as well as those expressing or lacking CD28 in 11 ESRD patients known with atherosclerotic disease (CVDpos, closed bars) before transplantation and compared that to 27 age- and sex-matched ESRD patients, not known with preexisting atherosclerotic disease (CVDneg, open bars). In addition, PBMC of 8 CVDpos ESRD patients (closed bars) and 12 age- and sex-matched CVDneg patients (open bars) were stimulated with PMA and ionomycin in order to be able to analyze percentages of the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α + (d) as well as IFN-γ + (e) within CD4+ and CD4+CD28+ and CD4+CD28null T cells.
