Fig. 8: TLR4⁺ T cells upregulate receptors for inflammatory chemokine cytokines.

a, b t-SNE plots of peripheral blood total CD4⁺ T cells. The color indicates cell expression levels of the labeled marker. a TLR4, IL-6R; TLR4, IL-17R, and IL-2Rα. Circle demarks TLR4⁺ cells (n = 6 RA patients). c, d Representative plots and cumulative graph (n = 12 RA patients) of IL-1R c frequency and d ΔMFI in TLR4⁺ (red) and TLR4⁻ (gray) T cells. e, f Representative plots and cumulative graph (n = 13 RA patients) of IL-6R e frequency and f ΔMFI in TLR4⁺ (red) and TLR4⁻ (gray) T cells. g, h Representative plots and cumulative graph (n = 13 RA patients) of IL-17R g frequency and h ΔMFI in TLR4⁺ (red) and TLR4⁻ (gray) T cells. i–j Representative plots and cumulative graph (n = 13 RA patients) of IL-2Rα i frequency and j ΔMFI in TLR4⁺ (red) and TLR4⁻ (gray) T cells. ΔMFI was calculated to correct for the distinct autofluorescence of the TLR4⁻ and TLR4⁺ T-cell populations. ΔMFI was calculated by subtracting the fluorescence intensity minus one (FMO) from median fluorescence intensity (MFI) for each given marker. Data are presented as mean ± SD, for parametric statistical tests, or median ± IQR, for non-parametric statistical tests. Sample normality distribution was tested by using D’Agostino & Pearson normality test. P values ****p ≤ 0.0001, ***p ≤ 0.001, **p ≤ 0.01, *p ≤ 0.05 were determined by (c–e, g, i, j) Wilcoxon matched-pairs rank test and (f, h) Paired t test. Effect size measures ⁺⁺⁺high, ⁺⁺medium, ⁺small were determined by (c–e, g, i, j) r – correlation coefficient r and (f, h) d – Cohen’s d.