Figure 1

Patients with SLE have an increased frequency of Th17 cells but not Th1 cells. PBMCs from patients with SLE (n = 25) and healthy control subjects (HC, n = 26) were stimulated for 4 hours ex vivo with PMA and ionomycin or PBS (control) in the presence of Golgiplug. The frequency of CD4⁺ T cells producing IL-17 and/or IFN-γ was measured by using flow cytometry. (a) Representative dot plots showing CD4⁺ T cells producing IL-17 and/or IFN-γ. (b) The frequency (% of CD4⁺IL-17⁺ T cells, CD4⁺IL-17⁺IFN-γ⁺ T cells and CD4⁺IFN-γ⁺ T cells in patients with SLE and in healthy control subject (HC). Numbers in dot plots indicate the frequency of cells for each quadrant. Bars show the means.