Figure 1

CD8⁺ T cells show increase TLR4 expression in RA patients. (a) Relative mRNA expression of TLR4 in peripheral CD8⁺ T cells was determined by qPCR from 45 RA patients, 9 SLE patients, and 42 healthy controls (HC). The qPCR C_t values were normalized (∆C_t) by subtracting the C_t values of ß-actin from those of TLR4 and 1/∆C_t was plotted. (b) A representative FACS dot plot panel shows TLR4 expression by CD8⁺ T cell in a HC and RA patient. The box gate represents CD3⁺CD8⁺ TLR4⁺ T cells. The graph represents percentages of CD3⁺CD8⁺TLR4⁺T cells in our case (n = 25) - control (n = 18) cohort. (c) Histogram shows a comparative fluorescence distribution of TLR4 for CD8⁺ T cells from a single HC and RA patient. A shift in the fluorescence intensity represents an increase in TLR4 expression on CD8⁺ T cells of the RA patient. Solid line represents HC and dotted line represents RA. The bar graph represents median fluorescence intensities (MFI) of TLR4 protein expressed on CD8⁺ T cells in the case-control samples as in (c), and indicates significant increase in TLR4 expression in RA patients. Bars represent the mean ± SEM. **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.