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

Table 4

BALF cellular differential counts assessed by microscopy.

	Sarcoidosis; (𝑁=30)	Other DPLDs; (𝑁=17)	Healthy controls; (𝑁=14)	𝑃^∗
Total cell concentration (10^6/mL)	19 (15–28)	26 (11–29)	14 (12–17)	0.01
Lymphocytes (%)	35 (24–53)	34 (14–48)§	14 (10–25)	0.001
Neutrophils (%)	2 (1–4)^##	6 (2–9)	3 (2–5)	0.15
Mast cells (per 10 squares)	4 (2–9)^##	21 (8–63)§§	2 (0–5)	0.04
Eosinophils (%)	0 (0-1)^##	3 (1–9)§§	0 (0-0)	0.14
Alveolar macrophages (%)	60 (45–73)	47 (26–74)§§	81 (69–85)	0.001

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. ^§𝑃<0.05 and ^§§𝑃<0.01 compared to healthy controls. ^#𝑃<0.05 and ^##𝑃<0.01 compared to other DPLD. Differential counts were missing for one patient with other diffuse parenchymal lung disease (DPLD) and one healthy control.