Fig. 2.

Decrease in vaccine-specific T cells (VST) and increase in regulatory CD4⁺ T cells after vaccination. a Pentamer-positive CD8⁺ T cells before (day −7) and after (days 14–84) vaccination in all patients (n = 9). CMV sero-positive (CMVpos) group n = 6, sero-negative (CMVneg) group n = 3, VST before vaccination group (VST) n = 5, no VST before vaccination group (NoVST) n = 4, HIV-reverse-transcriptase-peptide (HIVRT). b Pentamer-positive CD8⁺ T cells were gated and percentages of pentamer-positive effector memory/effector T cells (CD27⁻/CCR7⁻) calculated before vaccination and at day 42 after vaccination. c Percent cytokine producing PADRE-specific CD4⁺ T cells as measured by ICC. d Flow cytometry analysis of patient-derived PBMC samples collected prior to vaccination and at day 42 and 84. Cells were incubated with anti-CD3, anti-CD8, anti-CD4, anti-CD25, anti-CD127, and anti-FoxP3. Regulatory phenotype is defined as: CD25⁺CD127^lowFoxP3⁺ CD4⁺ T cells. The dotted line represents the threshold of a more then twofold increase of CD25⁺CD127^lowFoxP3⁺ CD4⁺ T cells after vaccination. n.p. not possible