Table 1.
The demographic and clinical characteristics of the participants.
Figure 1.
Flow cytometry analysis of the frequency of different subsets of CD4+ T cells.
PBMCs were isolated from individual participants and stimulated with PMA and ionomycin for six hours in the presence of BFA. The cells were stained with fluorescent antibodies against CD3 and CD4, fixed and permeabilized, followed by intracellular staining with anti-IFN-γ, anti-IL-17A and anti-IL-22. The cells were gated on CD3+CD4+ T cells and the percentages of IFN-γ−IL-17A−IL-22+, IFN-γ−IL-22−IL-17A+ IFN-γ−IL-17A+IL-22+, IFN-γ+IL-17A−IL-22− and IFN-γ+CD4+T cells in CD3+CD4+ T cells were determined. Data are representative dot plots and the percentages of different subsets of CD4+ T cells in the HT patients and HC. The horizontal lines indicate the median values.
Figure 2.
Correlation between percentages of different subsets of CD4+ T cells in HT patients.
The potential correlations among the different subsets of CD4+ T cells were analyzed by Spearman’s rank correlation test. Data shown are the mean values of individual patient (n = 17).
Figure 3.
Correlation between percentages of different subsets of CD4+ T cells and levels of serum TSH in newly diagnosed HT patients.
The potential correlations between the levels of serum TSH and the percentages of Th22, Th17 cells in the HT patients were analyzed by Spearman’s rank correlation test. Data shown are the mean values of individual patients (n = 17).
Figure 4.
The levels of serum IL-22, IL-17A, and IFN-γ in each subject.
The levels of serum IL-22, IL-17A, and IFN-γ in each subject were measured by ELISA and the potential association of the concentrations of serum cytokines with the percentages of corresponding cells or the levels of serum TSH was analyzed by Spearman’s rank correlation test. Data are expressed as the mean values of individual subjects (n = 17 for each group) from four separate experiments. A. ELISA analysis of the levels of serum cytokines; B. Correlation analysis. The levels of serum IL-17A were not significantly correlated with the percentages of Th17/Th22 cells in those patients (data not shown). The levels of serum IL17A and IL-22 were not correlated with the values of other measures tested in the HT patients (data not shown).
Figure 5.
Immunohistochemistry analysis of IL-17A and IL-22 in the thyroid tissues of newly diagnosed HT patients.
The thyroid tissue samples were obtained from 15 patients, who were subjected to a surgical resection of the thyroid nodules and the thyroid tissue sections were characterized by H&E staining and immunohistochemistry analysis of IL-17A and IL-22 expression. The mean optical density (MOD) of immunostaining was quantified. The potential correlation of MOD values for anti-IL-22 staining with the levels of serum TPOAb and the percentages of Th22 cells in the HT patients was analyzed. Data shown are representative images and expressed as the mean values of individual patients. A. HE staining of the thyroid tissue section (magnification ×200); B. Immunohistochemical detection of IL-22 in the thyroid tissues of a HT patient (magnification ×200). C. Immunohistochemical detection of IL-17A (magnification ×200). D. Immunohistochemical staining of anti-IL-22 (magnification ×400). Correlation analyses of IL-22 mean optical density with E. TPOAb and F. %Th22.