Fig. 2

Differences in a combined blood chemokine/T-cell subset profile between untreated early rheumatoid arthritis patients and healthy controls, and the association of chemokines and T-cell subsets. Multivariate factor analysis was performed to investigate differences in combined blood chemokine levels and proportions of T-cell subset profiles between the patients with untreated early rheumatoid arthritis (ueRA; n = 43) and healthy controls (HC; n = 14). a Orthogonal projection to latent structures discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) score scatter plot showing the separation of ueRA and HC based on differences in the combined blood chemokine/T-cell subset profile. b OPLS-DA column loading plot depicting the association between ueRA or HC (y variables) and the levels of chemokines and T-cell subset proportions (x variables). x variables represented by bars pointing in the same direction as ueRA are positively associated, whereas variables with bars pointing in the opposite direction are inversely related to ueRA. c Principal component analysis (PCA) plot of the first two principal components (p2 vs p1) depicting the association and clustering among the chemokines and T-cell subsets in the patients with ueRA. Subsets located close to each other on the same side of an axis depict positive association, while subsets located far on the opposite side of an axis or located far diagonally depict negative association