Fig. 2.
MAIT cells display low frequency but high activation and reside around portal tracts in BA liver tissues. (A) Representative dot plots and percentages of intrahepatic and peripheral MAIT cells among CD3+ T cells in the control (n = 12, 15) and BA (n = 12, 12) livers or peripheral bloods, respectively. (B) Comparison of expression of HLA-DR and CD38 on intrahepatic and peripheral MAIT cells in control (n = 12) and BA (n = 12) patients. (A-B) Statistical analysis was performed using Student's t test or Mann–Whitney test depending up on the distribution turns in to the normal or not. Data points are mean ± SD. ∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗∗p < 0.001. (C) Representative images of CD3+ (green) Vα7.2+ (red) double positive cells (white arrowheads) in liver tissue sections from control (n = 3) and BA (n = 3) liver tissues. Colocalization of CD3 and Vα7.2 (see higher magnification at right panels) identifies MAIT cells. White box in left panels point at a portal field (middle panels). PT, portal tract. Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). (D) Correlation matrix among abundance of MAIT cells measured by flow cytemetry, level of clinical paramters, expression KRT19, COL1A1. Spearman correlation coefficients are shown only in boxes with spearman correlation p value < 0.05. Red indicates positive correlation, while blue indicates negative correlation. Dot size is proportional to absolute value of correlation coefficient.