Fig. 1
The levels of Th17 cells and Tregs in patients with different stages of HBV-LF. a The different stages of fibrosis were assessed by Sirius Red staining of liver tissues. The following scores were assigned to the different stages of fibrosis by the Laennec system: F1 portal fibrosis without septa, F2 portal fibrosis with rare septa, F3 numerous septa with bridging fibrosis without cirrhosis, and F4 cirrhosis. Patients with F1 through 2 were classified as Group 1 and patients with F3 or 4 were classified as Group 2. b CD4+ T cells gating strategy. Lymphocytes were derived from total live PBMCs/hepatic mononuclear cells gated by forward and side scatter. CD4+ T cells were defined by double positive of CD3 and CD4. c, e Flow cytometry analysis of the percentages of Th17 cells (c) and Tregs (e) in freshly isolated CD4+ T cells from peripheral blood and tissues. The values in the quadrants represent the percentage of Th17 cells and Tregs. The data shown are representative dot plots of at least 10 individuals from more than three independent experiments. d, f Comparision of the percentages of Th17 cells and Tregs between two groups. The percentages of both Th17 cells (d) and Tregs (f) increased significantly in liver tissues but not in peripheral blood in Group 2 (black filled profiles) compared with Group 1 (open profiles). e, f Liver tissues from different stages of liver fibrosis were immunostained with antibodies against IL-17 and Foxp3 in representative samples. The numbers of IL-17+ cells (g) and Foxp3+ cells (h) were significantly higher in Group 2than in Group 1. Positive cells are highlighted by black arrow. One of 10 representative micrographs is shown. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001