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).