Fig. 2.

Impact of polyclonal expansion on T cell memory phenotype in blood. Representative plots showing (A) naive and antigen-experienced cells (total memory) based on differential staining with CD27 and CD45RO; and (B) differentiation markers expression (CD45RO, CD27, and CCR7) on CD8+ T cells from blood. Eight distinct memory subsets were defined from these markers: Central memory cells, (CD45RO⁺CD27⁺CCR7⁺), transitional memory cells (CD45RO⁺CD27⁺CCR7⁻), effector memory cells (CD45RO⁺CD27⁺CCR7⁺), CD45RO⁺CD27⁻CCR7⁺, naive T cells (CD45RO⁻CD27⁺CCR7⁺), intermediate memory cells (CD45RO⁻CD27⁺CCR7⁻), effector (CD45RO⁻CD27⁻CCR7⁻) and CD45RO⁻CD27⁻CCR7⁻cells. (C) Comparison of the frequency of total, effector memory and central memory subsets expressed as percentages of total CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells in chronically HIV-infected individuals (n = 5) before and after expansion using seven different protocols. Each box and whisker plot shows the median (central line), IQR (outer lines of box) and 5–95% range (error bars) of 5 HIV-infected individuals. * indicates p < 0.05 while ** indicates p < 0.01 using Wilcoxon rank test.