Fig. 2

Immunological diversity and specialisation in PFCs. a Proportions of major cell populations in CD45⁺ cells show increased infiltration of macrophages, DCs, and NK cells in PF (n = 20) compared to blood (n = 20). Average proportions of cell subsets are shown (for patient-by-patient data, see Additional file 1: Figure S6A and S7). b Composition of T cell subsets from PF and blood shows increased CD8 T cells and decreased CD4 cells in PF (see Additional file 1: Figure S6B). c Percentages of naïve, CM, EM, and TEMRA as a proportion of total CD4 and CD8 T cells isolated form PF or blood suggest remarkably increased EM T cells in PF (see Additional file 1: Figure S6B). d Expression of CD69 and CD38/HLADR are increased on T cells from PF compared to blood. e NK cell cytotoxicity markers are reduced in PF. Frequencies of CD16⁺ and GNLY⁺ cells are higher in blood, while frequency of KIR2DL2/3⁺ cells is decreased in PF compared to blood NK cells. f CD64⁺, CD40⁺, CD163⁺, and CD206⁺ macrophages are significantly increased in PF. Means ± SEM are shown in scatter plots. g Heatmaps showing expression of activation markers in nine cell populations: 1, all CD45⁺ cells; 2, macrophages/monocytes; 3, DCs; 4, T cells; 5, CD4 T cells; 6, CD8 T cells; 7, B cells; 8, NKs; 9, Neutrophils. Scale bars indicate the mean percentages of marker expressing cells with respect to total cells in each population in PF (n = 20) compared to blood (n = 20) samples. Asterisks below each heatmap indicate the statistical significance. Wilcoxon’s signed-rank test was used in all statistics. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001