Increased circulating NK cell numbers in the peripheral blood of scrub typhus patients.

<p>Freshly isolated PBMCs from 56 HCs and 56 patients with scrub typhus were stained with FITC-conjugated anti-CD56, PE-conjugated anti-CD3, and PerCP-conjugated anti-CD45 mAbs, and then analyzed by flow cytometry. Percentages of NK cells were calculated using a CD45/SSC gate. Panel A: Representative NK cell percentages as determined by flow cytometry. Panel B: NK cell percentages among peripheral blood lymphocytes. Panel C: Absolute NK cell numbers (per microliter of blood). Symbols represent individual subjects and horizontal lines indicate median values. Panel D: The ratios of CD3-CD56^bright/CD3-CD56^dim NK cell percentages among peripheral blood lymphocytes. Data are shown as box plots. Each box represents the 25th and 75th percentiles. The line inside the boxes represent the median. Whiskers represent the 10th and 90th percentiles. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.0005 by the ANCOVA test.