Fig. 3

Relationship between Th2, Th1Th17, and Th17 subset proportions and disease activity measures in male and female untreated early RA patients. Multivariate factor analysis was performed to investigate sex differences in the association of Th2, Th1Th17, and Th17 T cell subset proportions with multiple disease activity measures in ueRA patients. OPLS column loading plots depicting the association between (a) Th2, (c) Th17Th17 and (e) Th17 subset proportions (Y-variables) and disease activity measures (X-variables) in male (n = 20) and female (n = 48) ueRA patients. In OPLS column loading plot, X-variables represented by bars pointing in the same direction as Y-variable are positively associated with Y-variable, whereas X-variables with bars pointing in the opposite direction are inversely related to the Y-variable. Correlation analyses between the proportion of (b) Th2 or (d) Th1Th17 cells with disease activity measures in male and female ueRA patients, respectively. *P ≤ 0.05 and **P ≤ 0.01 (Spearman’s rank correlation test). Regression lines are presented in the correlation plots