Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid IFN-𝜸⁺ Th17 Cells and Regulatory T Cells in Pulmonary Sarcoidosis

Table 3

BALF lymphocyte subsets assessed by flow cytometry of mitogen stimulated cells.

Mitogen stimulated cells	Sarcoidosis; (𝑁=23)	Other DPLDs; (𝑁=11)	Healthy controls; (𝑁=15)	𝑃^∗
Th1 (IFN-𝛾^+, % of CD4^+ T cells)	75.5 (62.6–79.4)	62.1 (46.7–75.0)	65.7 (41.5–69.6)	n.s
Th17 cells (% of CD4^+ T cells)	2.5 (1.4–4.5)	3.0 (1.8–6.6)	4.5 (3.2–8.5)	0.01
IFN-𝛾^+ Th17 (% of Th17)	72.4 (57.1–83.8)	65.5 (39.9–85.9)	31.0 (22.3–49.6)	0.0005
IFN-𝛾^+ CD8^+ T cells (% of CD8^+)	83.4 (69.3–87.9)	83.1 (76.4–94.3)	85.5 (77.5–89.9)	n.s
IL17^+ CD8^+ T cells (% of CD8^+)	0.8 (0.5–2.4)	0.5 (0.3–1.4)	1.1 (0.9–1.6)	n.s

Data are shown as median (IQR). ^∗𝑃 values represent pairwise comparison between sarcoidosis and healthy controls with Mann-Whitney 𝑈 test conducted if significant differences were found with Kruskal-Wallis test. Pairwise comparisons between sarcoidosis and other DPLD or other DPLD and healthy controls showed no significant difference. n.s: nonsignificant (Kruskal-Wallis test).