Fig. 4

CCL21 expression correlated with CD3  +  T cell infiltration in DN. A Representative micrographs of immunofluorescent staining of CCL21 (green) in renal tissue from controls (normal kidney tissue from patients with renal carcinoma) and patients with DN. Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). Scale bar: 50 μm. Representative micrographs (B) and the quantification (C) of CD3-positive cells, CD4-positive cells and CD8-positive cells in renal tissues from DN patients with low (<  median) and high (>  or  =  median) expression of urinary small EVs derived CCL21. Scale bar: 50 μm. D The correlation between CD3-positive cells and the expression of urinary small EVs derived CCL21 (r  =  0.6427, p  =  0.0054). E The correlation between the number of CD3-positive cells with ESR levels in DN patients (r  =  0.8511, p = 0.004). F Representative micrographs of immunofluorescent staining for CD3 (green) and CCL21 (red) in renal tissue from patients with DN. Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). Scale bar: 20 μm