Fig. 1.

A high percentage of CD8⁺CD28⁻ T-cells in the bone marrow of patients with plasma cell disease is associated with impaired antigen-specific T-cell response. a Correlation of present or absent antigen-specific T-cell responses (positive or negative ELISPOT) and the frequency of CD8⁺CD28⁻ T-cells in the BM CD8⁺ T-cell compartment in patients with PCD (n = 33). b Representative ELISPOT-assays from two patients with PCD with (left) or without (right) a specific T-cell response against the MART-1_{aa26–35*A27L} peptide. c Representative flow cytometry analysis and gating strategy for the analysis in A. d Effect of MNCs from BM of PCD patients (n = 8) on the expansion of MART-1_{aa26–35*A27L}-specific T-cells from HD (n = 6). Correlation between expansion of HD T-cells and the amount of CD8⁺CD28⁻ from PCD patients present during expansion