Fig. 5.

Properties of CD8⁺Tscm cells induced by the CD40.CoV2 vaccine. (a) Examples of FACS plots of IFNγ- and TNF-secreting memory CD8⁺ T-cell staining performed on a HIS-mouse spleen from the CD40.CoV2+poly-ICLC group in response to SARS-CoV-2 N2 OLPs, gated on human CD8⁺ T cells. The negative control for the hTNF and hIFNγ staining was obtained by gating on mouse CD45⁺ cells. (b–c) Percentage of Tscm, CM, and EM CD8⁺ T cells secreting cytokines (IFNγ and/or TNF) in response to SARS-CoV-2 (b) vRBD, or (c) vN OLPs in the CD40.CoV2 (rectangle) and CD40.CoV2+poly-ICLC (triangle) groups one week after the last vaccination. Pairwise comparisons were performed using the Wilcoxon test. Median and individual values from two independent experiments are shown. ∗p < 0.05. (d) Examples of FACS plots of CFSE dilutions in a HIS-mouse spleen from the CD40.CoV2+poly-ICLC group after stimulation with 25 ng/mL IL-15 for nine days, gated on human CD8⁺ Tscm, CM, and EM cells. PD, percentage divided; PI, proliferation index. (e) Percentage of divided cells and (f) proliferation index of different memory CD8⁺ T-cell subsets after stimulation as in panel (d). Comparisons were performed using the Friedman test followed by the post-hoc Dunn–Bonferroni test. Median and individual values from two independent experiments are shown. ∗p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗∗p < 0.001.