Fig. 4
Correlation of the clinical response with the persistence of CD244+ cells in muscle tissue. Patients with low Functional Index (FI) improvement (ΔFI ≤20 %, n = 4) had significantly higher number of CD3+ cells/mm2 (a) and CD244+ cells/mm2 (b) before treatment, compared to the patient group with high FI improvement (ΔFI >20 %, n = 8). Patients in the FI-low group (FI <75 %) post-treatment had higher levels of CD244+ (CD28null) T cells in post-treatment muscle biopsies compared to those in the FI-high group (FI >75 %) (c). CD244+/mm2 in post-treatment muscle biopsies displayed negative correlation with FI after treatment (95 % CI = –0.85 to 0.08) (d). CD244+ cells/mm2 post-treatment correlated significantly with Myositis Intention To Treat Activity Index (MITAX) at 5-year follow-up (95 % CI = 0.05 to 0.90) (e). CD244+ cells/mm2 post-treatment displayed negative correlation with Manual Muscle Testing 8 (MMT8) at 5-year follow-up (f), and significant correlation with Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) score at 6- to 10-year follow-up (95 % CI = 0.14 to 0.90) (g). β values indicates the slope for linear regression and p value indicates if the slope is significantly non-zero. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01. CI confidence interval, r s Spearman correlation coefficient