Fig. 1: The MAIT cell frequency is decreased in the relapsing VKH patients.

a UMAP projections of T cell subsets in PBMCs of healthy donors by the FlowSOM clustering algorithm. MAIT cell cluster is shown in red square. b UMAP clusters of PBMCs from healthy donors (black), patients under remission (blue), relapsing patients (red). In each cohort, concatenated data of all individuals were used for the analysis. c Quantification of frequencies of T cell subsets. The percentage of each subset among CD3⁺ cells in the peripheral blood of healthy donors (n = 8), VKH patients under remission (n = 7), and relapsing VKH patients with active inflammation (n = 6) is shown. Each subset was defined as follows: Th1 cells, CD4⁺CXCR3⁺CCR4⁻CCR6⁻; Th2 cells, CD4⁺CXCR3⁻CCR4⁺CCR6⁻; Th17 cells, CD4⁺CXCR3⁻CCR4⁺CCR6⁺CD161⁺; Th22 cells, CD4⁺CCR4⁺CCR6⁺CCR10⁺; T_FH cells, CD4⁺CXCR5⁺; ThGM-CSF cells, CD4⁺CXCR3⁻CCR4⁺CCR6⁻CCR10⁺; Naïve CD8 cells, CD8⁺CD45RA⁺CCR7⁺; central memory (CM) CD8 cells, CD8⁺CD45RA⁻CCR7⁺; effector memory (EM) CD8 cells, CD8⁺CD45RA⁻CCR7⁻; effector CTLs, CD8⁺CD45RA⁺CD27⁻; γδ T cells, γδTCR⁺; MAIT cells, TRAV1-2⁺CD161⁺. d–f Comparison of MR1-reactive T cells in the peripheral blood from the indicated populations using human MR1 tetramers loaded with 5-OP-RU (designated as 5-OP-RU-hMR1Tet⁺ cells). Representative dot plots showing (d) 5-OP-RU-hMR1Tet⁺ cells in total lymphocytes and (e) expressions of MAIT cell markers such as TRAV1-2 and CD161 on 5-OP-RU-hMR1Tet⁺ cells. f The percentages of 5-OP-RU-Tet⁺ cells among CD3⁺ lymphocytes (Healthy, n = 13; Remission, n = 14; Relapse, n = 7). g The ages of individuals in three cohorts. c, f *p < 0.05 by one-way ANOVA, followed by Dunnett’s multiple comparison test.