Fig. 2: Systemic pro-inflammatory signature in severe infertile men.
From: Specific types of male infertility are correlated with T cell exhaustion or senescence signatures
a–b The proportion of the major leukocyte subsets and regulatory T cells was analyzed by multiparametric flow cytometry in peripheral blood of fertile (FER, n = 33), Oligo-Astheno-Terato spermia (OAT, n = 34), and non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA, n = 12) men. a Pie charts showing the overall leukocyte subset distribution in FER, OAT, and NOA men; numbers in pie charts indicate the mean, *P ≤ 0.05 and ***P ≤ 0.001 vs. FER; scatter plot (mean ± SEM) showing the proportion of the indicated myeloid cell subsets in FER (n = 29), OAT (n = 34), and NOA (n = 12) men and the ratio between the percentage of cDC1 and DC-10 and between the percentage of cDC2 and DC-10 calculated for each donor is presented; each dot represents a single donor; Kruskal-Wallis test in association with Dunn’s multiple comparison test were used to determine the statistical significance of the data, statistically significant P values are reported. b The frequencies of the indicated lymphoid cell subsets, including T regulatory type 1 (Tr1, CD4+CD45RA-CD49b+LAG-3+) and FOXP3+ Treg (CD4+CD25+CD127-FOXP3+) cells in the peripheral blood of FER (n = 33), OAT (n = 31), and NOA (n = 12) men are shown; each dot represents a single donor, scatter plots indicate mean ± SEM; Kruskal-Wallis test in association with Dunn’s multiple comparison test were used to determine the statistical significance of the data. c The frequencies of T regulatory type 1 (Tr1, CD4+CD45RA-CD49b+LAG-3+) and FOXP3+ Treg (CD4+CD25+CD127-FOXP3+) cells in the indicated cohort of donors are shown; each dot represents a single donor, scatter plots indicate mean ± SEM; Kruskal-Wallis test in association with Dunn’s multiple comparison test were used to determine the statistical significance of the data. d The presence and concentration of cytokines and chemokines were evaluated using a multi-beads array in plasma from peripheral blood of fertile men without (nFER, n = 9) or with one/two spermiogram alterations (aFER, n = 18), OAT (n = 32), and NOA (n = 11) men. All the analytes tested were divided into two different heatmaps according to their concentration (pg/ml); in each heatmap, cytokines/chemokines are ordered based on their abundance. Heat map color corresponds to the real concentration values, the spectrum of blue to green to yellow, corresponding to an increasing gradient of chemokine/cytokine concentrations. Values above the standard range are reported in orange. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
