Figure 7

Increased proliferation of CD80 ⁺ and CD86 ⁺ T cell subsets but not B cell subsets between HCs, ACs and HAM/TSP patients. (A) PBMCs were cultivated in vitro for 48 h, and anti-CD3, anti-CD19, anti-CD80, anti-CD86 mAbs and Hoechst 33342 (DNA dye) staining was quantified using flow cytometry. Tetraploid (4n, proliferating) cells were gated on CD80- or CD86-expressing subsets of T (CD3⁺CD19^-) cells or B (CD3^-CD19⁺) cells. (B,C) Proliferating CD80⁺ T cells were significantly increased in HAM/TSP vs. HCs only, and proliferating CD86⁺ T cells were significantly increased in ACs vs. HCs only (B), whereas there was no significant difference in proliferation in any B cell subset (C). (n = 3 for HCs and n = 5 for ACs and HAM/TSP patients, Kruskal-Wallis with Dunn’s multiple comparison post test, *p < 0.05).