Fig. 1

Effects of methotrexate on biomarkers of endothelial dysfunction. Circulating Tang cells are more prevalent in early RA compared to HCs, and their number further increases following MTX treatment (A). Early RA patients show an altered balance of Tang cells in favour of a CD28^nullphenotype which is restored following MTX treatment (B). In RA patients, 3-month MTX treatment restores sVCAM-1 (C), EMP (D), platelet CD40L (E) and EPC (G) to levels of HCs. CEC levels do not display significant differences (F). Data are shown as mean ± standard error. *p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.01, ***p ≤ 0.001, ****p ≤ 0.0001