Figure 1

The profile of inflammatory cells in the skin of SSc patients. (A) Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of consecutive serial sections showing typical pathologic changes of SSc (left panel); lymphocyte infiltration confirmed by CD3, CD4, CD8, CD20, and CD68 immunohistochemical staining in superficial dermis of patients with early SSc (right panels). (B) H&E staining (Left panel); lymphocyte infiltration confirmed by CD3, CD4, CD8, CD20, and CD68 immunohistochemical staining in superficial dermis of late SSc patients (right panels). (C) H&E staining (left panel); lymphocyte infiltration confirmed by CD3, CD4, CD8, CD20, and CD68 immunohistochemical staining in deep dermis of early SSc patients (right panels). (D) H&E staining (left panel); lymphocyte infiltration confirmed by CD3, CD4, CD8, CD20, and CD68 immunohistochemical staining in deep dermis of patients with late SSc (right panels). (E) Counts of CD3⁺, CD4⁺, CD8⁺, CD20⁺, and CD68⁺ lymphocytes in superficial dermis of skin (early SSc patients, n = 8; late SSc patients n = 5). (F) Counts of CD3⁺, CD4⁺, CD8⁺, CD20⁺, and CD68⁺ lymphocytes in deep dermis of skin (early SSc patients, n = 8; late SSc patients, n = 5). The positive cells in the surface were counted under × 400 magnification, and five randomly selected independent microscopic fields were counted for each sample to ensure that the data were representative and homogeneous. Scale bar, 100 μm.