Figure 3
From: T cell-activation in neuromyelitis optica lesions plays a role in their formation
Numbers of Ox40+ and CD3+ T cells in NMO and MS lesions at different lesion stages. The number of Ox40 (A,B) and CD3 (C,D) positive T cells of 7 NMO (A,C) and 9 MS (B,D) cases was determined by evaluating regions of interest in NMO (ROI n = 144) and MS (ROI n = 112) (each region = 390.000 μm2) in spinal cord and brain lesions/inflamed parenchyma. Asterisks indicate statistically significant (p < 0,05; Mann Whitney U test with asymptotic significance (2 tailed)) differences between early active (n = 35) and inactive (n = 29) NMO lesions in the numbers of Ox40+ T cells (A) and CD3+ T cells (C). The differences between early active (n = 51) and inactive (n = 34) MS lesions in the numbers of Ox40+ T cells (B) and CD3+ T cells (D) were not significant (p = 0,57 and p = 0,107, respectively). Please note that the differences in numbers of Ox40+ T cells and CD3+ T cells between early active NMO (n = 35) and early active MS (n = 51) is also highly significant (p < 0,0001 and p = 0,000318, respectively).