Figure 1. Epitope density influences CD8⁺ Tm generation.

A. The duration of peptide loading on DCs affects MHC-peptide expression. Representative histogram of K^b-SIINFEKL expression by DCs loaded 3 h (DC 3 h) or O/N (DC O/N) with SIINFEKL (left); dashed line, DCs pulsed with an irrelevant peptide (DC IRR). The mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of K^b-SIINFEKL expression is indicated on the top of the respective histogram. Right panel, compilation of the MFI of K^b-SIINFEKL expression for DC O/N versus DC 3 h. Results are from 13 independent experiments. B. The number of effector (day 4) and memory (day 45) OVA-specific T cells recovered from LNs after immunization with DC O/N or DC 3 h is shown. Number of Ag-specific T cells was normalized to one million cells to correct for LN size variation. Each dot represents a mouse. Mice in which no Tm cells were generated were not included. C. The number of OVA-specific effectors recovered from the spleen (day 4) after immunization with DC O/N or DC 3 h is shown. Each dot represents a mouse. D. The percentage of mice with Tm cells is shown. Statistical analysis was done using a Student's t test.