Frequencies and apoptosis of CD14⁺ peripheral blood monocytes in patients with active TB and healthy controls.

<p>(A) Representative flow cytometric plots showing gating strategy and percentage of monocytes (left panel). Monocytes were defined by high CD14 expression (gate BV). Patients with active TB had significantly elevated frequency of CD14⁺ monocytes compared with healthy controls. Two-tailed unpaired t-test was used for statistical analysis between groups. (B) Representative flow cytometric plots showing apoptosis of monocytes (upper panel). PBMCs from patients with active TB and healthy controls were incubated with RPMI-1640 contained 2% FBS for 24 h at 37°C, and cells were stained with fluorochrome-labeled anti-human CD14, Annexin V and PI. Cells that were positive for Annexin V were defined as apoptosis. Monocytes from patients with active TB had significantly lower percentage of apoptotic cells than that from healthy controls. Mann-Whitney test was used for statistical analysis between groups.