Fig. 1: Comparative analysis of major blood immune cell subsets and serum IFN concentrations in UPs, TPs, and HDs.

a PCA of the data is based on the proportion of different cell subpopulations (CD4⁺, CD8⁺, and TCR γδ T cells; NKs and DCs) evaluated by flow cytometry, as depicted in Supplementary Fig. 1. The first two principal components (PC1 and PC2), representing the greatest differences among individuals, are represented in a bi-plot. Each point represents one participant, colour-coded by group: HDs (black), UPs (red) and TPs (blue). Each group is outlined by an ellipse representing the 95% confidence interval of the sample groupings. b Histograms show distributions of indicated immune cell populations between HDs (black), UPs (red), and TPs (blue). Analysis was done in 24 HDs, 26 UPs, and 21 TPs for all populations except for γδ T cells and DCs (lin^– HLA-DR⁺) (22 HDs, 10 UPs, 8 TPs). c Balloon-plot summarizing the statistically significant changes in the indicated immune cell populations between UPs and HDs, TPs and HDs, and TPs and UPs. The size of the circle indicates the p value. Red and blue respectively indicate increased and decreased frequencies of the immune cell populations. d Scatterplots of IFNα and IFNλ2 concentrations in serum from HDs (n = 51), UPs (n = 26), and TPs (n = 22). Levels of IFNα and IFNλ2 were detected by SIMOA in unpaired (D1, D2) and paired patients (D3, D4). e Scatterplot of the relationships between IFNα and IFNλ2 serum levels in the 22 paired UPs and TPs. Correlations were evaluated with Spearman’s rank correlation test. Paired data were compared using the Wilcoxon test. Multiple group comparisons were assessed using the Kruskal–Wallis test with Dunn’s multiple comparison testing. Values are medians and p values (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001). Error bars on graphs represent interquartile ranges.