Clinical Trial of Allogeneic Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy for Chronic Active Antibody-Mediated Rejection in Kidney Transplant Recipients Unresponsive to Rituximab and Intravenous Immunoglobulin

Figure 3

Comparison of CD4+ T cell subsets before and after MSC treatment. PBMCs were stained with anti-CD4 PE-Cy7-conjugated, anti-CD45RA FITC-conjugated, anti-CCR7 APC-conjugated, and anti-IL-17 PE-conjugated antibodies. CD4+ T cells were gated for further analysis. The proportions (%) of CD4+ T cells/lymphocytes, CD4+ Tnaive (CD45RA + CCR7+/CD4+ T cells), CD4+ TCM (CD45RA-CCR7+/CD4+ T cells), CD4+ TEM (CD45RA-CCR7-/CD4+ T cells), and CD4+ Tdiff (CD45RA + CCR7-/CD4+ T cells) in each patient were determined. After surface staining with anti-CD4 PE-Cy7-conjugated, anti-CD45RA ± FITC-conjugated, and anti-CCR7 APC-conjugated antibodies, analysis of IL-17 expression in CD4+ T cell subsets by intracellular flow cytometry was performed. The proportions (%) of IL-17+/CD4+ Tnaive (CD45RA + CCR7+/CD4+ T cells), IL-17+/CD4+ TCM (CD45RA-CCR7+/CD8+ T cells), IL-17+/CD4+ TEM (CD45RA-CCR7-/CD4+ T cells), and IL-17+/CD4+ Tdiff (CD45RA + CCR7-/CD4+ T cells) in each patient were determined. “Before” indicates the results at the start of MSC treatment, and “After” indicates the results at 3 months after the final MSC infusion. MSCs: mesenchymal stem cells; PBMCs: peripheral blood mononuclear cells.