Fig. 1

Tc2 cells are enriched in peripheral blood in severe eosinophilic asthma. a–c Frequencies of CD3⁺CD8⁺CRTH2⁺ Tc2 and CD3⁺CD4⁺CRTH2⁺ Th2 cells in CD4⁺ or CD8⁺ T cells (a), in total leucocytes (b) or numbers of these cells in peripheral blood (c) were compared between healthy controls and severe asthma patient groups (eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic) of the Oxford cohort with flow cytometry. d, e IL-5- and IL-13-producing Tc2 cells in blood detected with PrimeFlow (d) or ICS after stimulation with 25 ng/ml PMA and 1 µg/ml ionomycin (e) were compared between healthy control and severe eosinophilic asthma. f Frequencies of IL-13-secreting CD3⁺CD8⁺ T cells in peripheral blood determined by flow cytometry with intracellular cytokine staining were increased in asthmatic patients from the Southampton cohort (left panel), which was associated with asthma severity (left middle panel), history of nasal polyposis (right middle panel) and history of smoking (right panel). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 (data in d and e are representative of three and five independent experiments)