Fig. 8.

Caspase-8 and -9 inhibitors rescued memory CD8+ T cells from AICD. a Data from pleural effusion CD8+ T cells from a cancer patient are shown. PEMCs were stimulated with anti-CD3 mAbs in the presence of a caspase-8 inhibitor, a caspase-9 inhibitor, or both. Annexin-V-positive cells were analyzed by histograms within the PI CD8+ T cell population as described in “Materials and methods”. Percentages of anti-CD3-induced apoptosis are shown for each condition (n = 9). b Representative analysis of memory CD8+ T cells. PEMCs were stimulated with anti-CD3 mAbs in the presence of a caspase-8 inhibitor, a caspase-9 inhibitor, or both. Percentages of annexin-V-positive cells were then determined in memory, naïve, and terminally differentiated subsets. Percentages of anti-CD3-induced apoptosis are shown for each condition (n = 5). *P < 0.05 with respect to cells without inhibitor (w/o inh), ⁺ P < 0.001 with respect to cells without inhibitor (w/o inh)