Serum levels of IL-6, IL-21, IL-23, and TGF-β
IL-6, IL-21, IL-23, and TGF-β levels were determined in plasma samples
by ELISA. As shown in Figure 2, IL-6 levels in the TM group (20.32±7.40
pg/ml) were lower than in the MG group (101.10±20.3 %) (P =0.01).
IL-21, IL-23, and TGF-β levels in the TM group were lower than in the MG
group, but this difference was not statistically significant.
Th17 and Treg
levels in thymomas
We defined the phenotype of Th17 cells as CD4+ and IL-17+ lymphocytes in
thymoma tissue and the phenotype of Tregs as CD4+ and FOXP3+ lymphocytes
in thymoma tissue. The number of positive Th17 cells in thymoma from the
MG group was 9.77±3.86, which was higher than that from the Tm group
(4.93±2.13, P <0.001). The number of positive Tregs in
thymoma from the MG group was 6.77±2.94, which was lower than that from
the Tm group (9.93±4.40, P =0.002) (Fig. 3).
RORγt and FOXP3
protein expression in thymoma
The proportion of positive staining
of RORγt in thymoma from the MG
group was 76.7% (23/30), which was
higher than that from the Tm group
(43.3%, P =0.017). The
positive staining proportion of
FOXP3 in thymoma from the MG group
was 53.3% (16 /30), which was lower
than that from the Tm group (86.7%,P =0.010). (Fig. 4).