Fig. 3: Functional characteristics of senescent T cells from patients with prediabetes and normoglycemic subjects.

Intracellular immunostaining for proinflammatory cytokines and cytotoxic granule proteins was performed in CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells in prediabetic and normoglycemic subjects. a–d The number of IFN-γ- and TNF-α-secreting cells in the population of CD57⁺CD4⁺ or CD8⁺ T cells was compared between the two groups (n = 20). e–h The numbers of granzyme B⁺ or perforin⁺ cells in the population of CD57⁺ CD4⁺ or CD8⁺ cells were evaluated by flow cytometry (n = 20). Data are expressed as mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 compared with the corresponding controls. Flow cytometry plots are representative of at least three independent experiments