Decrease in the percentage of peripheral CD45RA⁺CD8⁺ T cells after thymoma resection.

(A) The relative percentage of circulating CD45RA⁺ T cells, as determined by FACS-based analysis of PBL gated on CD3⁺ T cells, is significantly decreased in most patients (13 of 15) following surgery (P = .005). This decrease is still significant (P = .02) when only thymoma patients (Tm; n = 12) are included. ▴, Tm; ◊, TFH. Each symbol indicates the percentage of circulating CD45RA⁺ T cells for one patient at a given postoperative interval, and relative to the percentage of circulating CD45RA⁺ T cells immediately prior to surgery (adjusted to 100%). (B) Bar graph shows the mean percentages of CD4⁺and CD8⁺ subsets of circulating CD45RA⁺ T cells in patients with thymoma (n = 10) preoperatively (■) and postoperatively (░), as determined by FACS-based analyses gated on CD3⁺ T cells. Error bars indicate the SE. There is no significant difference (P = .8) between the proportion of CD4⁺ T cells observed either before surgery or after surgery; for CD8⁺ T cells, however, the preoperative values differ significantly (P = .04) from the postoperative values.