Comparison of frequency and phenotypes of CD4⁺FOXP3⁺ Tregs among the HC, TS (–) and TS (+) groups.

(A) Both the TS (–) and TS (+) groups had lower frequencies of CD4⁺ T cells than the HC group as shown by the dotted boxes. The frequencies of CD4⁺FOXP3⁺ Tregs (among total lymphocytes) did not significantly differ among the three groups as shown by the lined boxes. Numbers within the plots indicate the mean (standard deviations) percentage of each subset. (B) The TS (–) and TS (+) groups exhibited higher percentages of FOXP3⁺ among their CD4⁺ T cells than did the HC group. (C) There were no significant differences among the HC, TS (–) and TS (+) groups in the expression of CTLA-4 and GITR in CD4⁺FOXP3⁺ Tregs. The percentages of CD4⁺FOXP3⁺ Tregs expressing CXCR3, or both CCR4 and CCR6 were also comparable among the three groups. Grey bars and error bars indicate means and standard deviations, respectively. Values from the three groups were compared by ANOVA, and the between-group values were compared via Bonferroni post-hoc analysis. Abbreviations: HC, healthy control subjects; TS (−), Turner syndrome patients without thyroid autoimmunity; TS (+), Turner syndrome patients with thyroid autoimmunity; CTLA4, cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4; MFI, mean fluorescence intensity; GITR, glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor receptor family related.