Figure 2.

IL-21Rα^−/− mice make similar memory phenotype responses and produce similar cytokines as wildtype mice during primary responses. (A) WT and IL-21Rα^−/− mice were inoculated with rAd-gp140 and p18-specific CD8⁺ T cells in the peripheral blood of individual mice were divided into effector (CD62L^lo CD127^lo), effector memory (CD62L^lo CD127^hi), central memory (CD62L^hiCD127^hi), and CD62L^hiCD127^locell subsets. Percentage of CD27⁺ p18-specific CD8⁺ T cells in peripheral blood of individual mice was also measured. Data represent the means of six mice per group ± SE and are representative of eight experiments. (B) WT and IL-21Rα^−/− mice were inoculated with rVac-gp160 and p18-specific CD8⁺ T cells in the peripheral blood of individual mice were divided into effector, effector memory, central memory, and CD62L^hiCD127^locell subsets. Percentage of CD27⁺ p18-specific CD8⁺ T cells in peripheral blood of individual mice was also measured. Data represent the means of six mice per group ± SE and are representative of two experiments. (C) WT and IL-21Rα^−/− mice were inoculated with rAd-gp140 and sacrificed 44 days post-inoculation. Splenocytes were subjected to intracellular cytokine staining. Data are presented as the percentages of tetramer-positive CD8⁺ T cells staining positively for IFN-γ, TNF-α, or IL-2 and represent the means ± SE of 11 mice per group and are representative of three experiments. The Mann–Whitney test was used for statistical comparisons.