Fig. 2

Ketogenic diet triggered functional changes of T cell and promoted Treg differentiation. a UMAP plot of T cell subsets: the left showing the clusters of all T cell, the right showing sample distribution across KDC and NDC groups. b Wind rose diagram showing the numbers of upregulated and downregulated DEGs in the KDC/NDC comparison group. c Violin plots showing the expression levels of Nrp1, Maf, Pvt1, Orai1 in T cells. d GO terms and KEGG pathways enriched in upregulated DEGs of Treg cells in the KDC/NDC comparison group. Significance was calculated based on the accumulative hypergeometric distribution by Metascape webtool. e Pseudotime trajectory analysis of CD4⁺ T cells. Cells are colored by pseudotime (left), celltype (middle) and state (right) as indicated. Teff: Th17, Th1, Tfh. f Bar charts showing the percentages of different states between NDC and KDC groups, based on the pseudotime analysis. g-i Proportions of Th17 cells (G), Th1 cells (H) and Treg cells (I) in CDLNs measured by flow cytometry, gated on CD4⁺T cells. Data expressed as mean ± SD. Significance was determined using unpaired two-tailed student’s t test. ns P > 0.05, ***P < 0.001. j The Treg differentiation rates of NCD4 between NDC and KDC group, measured by flow cytometry, gated on CD4⁺T cells. Data expressed as mean ± SD. Significance was determined using one-way ANOVA. ****P < 0.0001. NCD4: naïve CD4⁺ T cells, Treg: regulatory T cells, Th17: T helper 17 cells, ProT: proliferative T cells, Th1: T helper 1 cells, Tfh: T follicular helper cells, γδT: γδT cells, NCD8: naïve CD8⁺ T cells, CTL: CD8⁺ T cells with cytotoxic activity