{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,31]],"date-time":"2026-07-31T22:34:36Z","timestamp":1785537276043,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,13]],"date-time":"2025-06-13T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1749772800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"The Lincoln Centre","award":["APP2006579"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["APP2006579"]}]},{"name":"the Woodend Foundation","award":["APP2006579"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["APP2006579"]}]},{"name":"CLEARbridge Foundation","award":["APP2006579"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["APP2006579"]}]},{"name":"the Ulysses Club","award":["APP2006579"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["APP2006579"]}]},{"name":"Rodger Laurent from the Department of Rheumatology, Royal North Shore Hospital","award":["APP2006579"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["APP2006579"]}]},{"name":"the NHMRC through its Centre of Research Excellence funding program","award":["APP2006579"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["APP2006579"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JCM"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Objectives: This study compared the frequencies of circulating CD4+ T helper (Th) cell subsets in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and healthy controls (HCs) and investigated their relationship with RA disease activity. Methods: Peripheral blood samples and demographic\/clinical data were collected from 75 RA patients and 28 HCs from the A3BC Biobank. Flow cytometry was utilized to identify cell subsets. Data were analyzed using FlowJo and GraphPad Prism. Results: RA patients displayed altered Th cell subset frequencies compared with HCs, including a higher overall proportion of Th cells (p = 0.02) but lower proportions of memory Th (p = 0.03), Th1 (p &lt; 0.0001), and Th17.1 (p = 0.004) cells. In DMARD-na\u00efve RA patients (n = 16), lower proportions of Th1 (p = 0.0005), Th9 (p = 0.04), and Th17.1 (p = 0.003) cells, alongside a higher Th17 cell proportion (p = 0.017), were observed compared with those in HCs. Further analysis of matched treatment-na\u00efve, new-onset RA patients and HCs confirmed these findings. Within the RA cohort, lower proportions of Th1 (p = 0.002) and Th17.1 (p = 0.025) cells and a higher proportion of Th2 cells (p = 0.015) were correlated with increased disease activity. Inverse correlations were also found between the proportions of Th1 (p = 0.002), Th9 (p = 0.024), and Th17.1 (p = 0.00017) cells and CRP levels in RA patients. Conclusions: This study demonstrates an imbalance in circulating Th cell subset frequencies in RA patients compared with those in HCs, with notably lower Th1 and Th17.1 cell proportions in RA patients. Decreased frequencies of these cell subsets were linked to increased disease activity, indicating that restoring the balance of Th cell subsets could be a potential therapeutic strategy for RA.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm14124220","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,13]],"date-time":"2025-06-13T09:51:24Z","timestamp":1749808284000},"page":"4220","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Th Cell Phenotypes and Their Correlations with Disease Activity in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8563-7216","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Meilang","family":"Xue","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Sutton Arthritis Research Laboratory, Sydney Musculoskeletal Health, Kolling Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2065, Australia"},{"name":"The Australian Arthritis and Autoimmune Biobank Collaborative (A3BC), Sydney Musculoskeletal Health, Kolling Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2065, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Haiyan","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Sutton Arthritis Research Laboratory, Sydney Musculoskeletal Health, Kolling Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2065, Australia"},{"name":"The Australian Arthritis and Autoimmune Biobank Collaborative (A3BC), Sydney Musculoskeletal Health, Kolling Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2065, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6727-6912","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tom","family":"Lynch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Australian Arthritis and Autoimmune Biobank Collaborative (A3BC), Sydney Musculoskeletal Health, Kolling Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2065, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Vibhasha","family":"Chand","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Australian Arthritis and Autoimmune Biobank Collaborative (A3BC), Sydney Musculoskeletal Health, Kolling Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2065, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Premarani","family":"Sinnathurai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Australian Arthritis and Autoimmune Biobank Collaborative (A3BC), Sydney Musculoskeletal Health, Kolling Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2065, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0518-8386","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ranjeny","family":"Thomas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Frazer Institute, Translational Research Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4102, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8469-2424","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Helen","family":"Keen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Medical School, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6000, Australia"},{"name":"Department of Rheumatology, Fiona Stanley Hospital, Perth, WA 6150, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8289-4922","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Catherine","family":"Hill","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Adelaide Medical School, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia"},{"name":"Rheumatology Research Group, Paediatrics and Paediatric Rheumatology, Basil Hetzel Institute, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide, SA 5011, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Susan","family":"Lester","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Adelaide Medical School, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia"},{"name":"Rheumatology Research Group, Paediatrics and Paediatric Rheumatology, Basil Hetzel Institute, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Adelaide, SA 5011, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6668-9638","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mihir","family":"Wechalekar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Rheumatology Synovial Tissue Translational Research Group, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia"},{"name":"Rheumatology Unit, Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marissa","family":"Lassere","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"St George Hospital, School of Population Health, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2033, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lyn","family":"March","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Australian Arthritis and Autoimmune Biobank Collaborative (A3BC), Sydney Musculoskeletal Health, Kolling Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2065, Australia"},{"name":"Department of Rheumatology, Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, NSW 2065, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Raphael, I., Joern, R.R., and Forsthuber, T.G. 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