Fig 2: Effects of oxLDL-C on the differentiation of IL-22+ ILC3, IL-17A+ NKp44− ILC3, and IL-17A+ CD4+ cells. (A) In vitro, oxLDL-C (50 μg/ml) or oxLDL-C (50 μg/ml) + CD36 blocking Ab (2 μg/ml) was added to the PBMCs (5×105 cells/well) of axSpA patients (n=10) for 24 h. The frequencies of IL-22+ ILC3, IL-17A+ NKp44− ILC3, IL-17A+ CD4+, and IFN-γ+ CD4+ cells were measured by flow cytometry. (B) Flow cytometry gating strategy for CD36+ ILC3 (CD3− CD127+ CD117+ CD294− CD36+).*p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001.

Fig 3: Correlation between circulating immune cells and ASDAS-CRP. ILC3 cells in patients with axSpA (n=34) were analysed by flow cytometry. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated between circulating IL-22+ ILC3, IL-17A+ NKp44- ILC3, IFN-γ+ CD4+ cells, IL-17A+ CD4+ cells, IL-22+ CD4+ cells, and ASDAS-CRP.