Figure 4. Functional differences between CCR7.

⁻ and CCR7⁺CD56^bright NK cells from HIV-infected donors indicate high activation states. (A) Representative flow cytometry plots of granzyme B and perforin expression on gated CD56^bright NK cells and summary data including CD56^dimCD16⁺ cells, from untreated HIV-infected subjects. Horizontal bars in dot plots show mean values. Numbers in corners represent percentage of quadrant. (B) Representative histograms and summary data of CD107a degranulation in CD56^bright cells from uninfected controls, untreated and HAART-treated HIV-patients. Data was generated using sorted NK cells stimulated with IL-12, IL-15 and K452 cells. (C) Representative flow cytometry plot of CD107a degranulation on gated CD56^bright NK cells and summary data of degranulation in CCR7⁺CD56^bright, CCR7⁻CD56^bright and CD56^dim NK cells from untreated HIV-infected subjects is shown. Data was generated using whole PBMCs stimulated with IL-12, IL-15 and K562 cells. Numbers in corners represent percentage of quadrant. (D) Spontaneous expression of IFN-γ in medium-only treated NK cell subsets is shown in a representative flow cytometry plot and a summary data graph. Data from untreated HIV-positive patients is shown and numbers in corners indicate percentages of quadrants. (E) Representative Ki-67-expression data and summary data on gated CCR7⁺ or CCR7⁻ CD56^bright cells and respective summary data including CD56^dimCD16⁺ NK cells from untreated HIV-seropositive subjects. Numbers in flow cytometry histogram plots indicate percentage of gated events. ***, P<0.001; NS – not significant.