Immune responses to an early lytic cytomegalovirus antigen in systemic lupus erythematosus patients: T-cell responses, cytokine secretions and antibody status - Fig 2

<p><b>Flow cytometric data on activated (A) and IFNγ-producing (B) T cells in SLE patients and HCs upon CMVpp52 antigen stimulation.</b> Heparinised whole blood samples from SLE patients (n = 17) and age- and sex-matched HCs (n = 17) were stimulated with CMVpp52. Data are presented as mean±SEM. Comparisons of T-cell responses between SLE patients and HCs were performed using Wilcoxon matched-pairs test (p-values in brackets). <b>A:</b> The percentages of activated T-cells in SLE patients and HCs separated in the total number of CD69-expressing T-cells (p = 0.001), and CD8+ (p = 0.004), and CD8- (p = 0.0004) T-cells expressing CD69, respectively. <b>B:</b> The percentages of IFNγ-producing T-cells separated in CD69-expressing T-cells (p = 0.0007), and CD8+ (p = 0.003), and CD8- (p = 0.0009) T-cells producing IFNγ, respectively.