Fig. 4: Comparative immune phenotypic analysis of CD8⁺T cell subsets in non-ECs, ECs, and HDs.

a Comparative analysis of CD8⁺T cell subsets distribution and phenotype in HDs, ECs, and non-ECs. aI Representative viSNE plot showing the distribution of CD8⁺T cell subsets, as described in Fig. 3 for CD4⁺Tconv in HDs (black), ECs (green), and non-ECs (red). aII Histograms of the frequencies of naïve, CM, EM, and TEMRA CD8⁺T cell subsets in each studied group (HDs n = 24, ECs n = 16, and non-ECs n = 23). Boxplots show the expression of the indicated marker in CD8⁺CM (aIII) and TEMRA (aIV) cells across the groups (HDs n = 22, ECs n = 12, and non-ECs n = 8). aV Radar chart of the composite scores of phenotypic cell alterations calculated for each CD8⁺T cell subpopulation in ECs and non-ECs (ECs n = 12 and non-ECs n = 8). aVI Scatterplots of the relationships between the expression level of indicated markers in CD8⁺CM cells (ECs n = 12 and non-ECs n = 8). b viSNE plot of the phenotypic difference between CD8⁺CTL (TEMRA iKIR⁻) (bI) and CD8+ suppressive T cells (CD8⁺supp) (TEMRA iKIR⁺) (bII). t-SNE plot of CD8⁺T cell subsets indicated in different colors, with viSNE projections of expression of indicated markers. Red and black arrows indicate HLA-1a–restricted and HLA-E–restricted CD8⁺supp cells, respectively. Histograms show the frequency of CD8⁺TEMRA iKIR⁻ (bIII) and TEMRA iKIR⁺ (bIV) in each studied group (HDs n = 24, ECs n = 16, and non-ECs n = 26). Boxplots give the proportion of specific markers on CD8⁺TEMRA iKIR⁻ (bV) and TEMRA iKIR⁺ (bVI) in each studied group (HDs n = 22, ECs n = 12, and non-ECs n = 8). Correlations were evaluated using Spearman’s rank correlation test. Multiple group comparisons were made using the Kruskal–Wallis test with Dunn’s multiple comparison testing. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001. Error bars on graphs represent interquartile ranges.