Figure 4. Greater frequency of terminally differentiated IFN-γ producing CD8⁺ T-cells responding to autologous HIV-1 Nef peptides.

(a) The frequency of terminally differentiated effector (CD8⁺ IFN-γ⁺ CD45RA⁺ CCR7⁻ CD27⁻) and effector memory (CD8⁺ IFN-γ⁺ CD45RA⁻ CCR7⁻ CD27⁻) T-cells targeting autologous HIV-1 Nef and clade-B consensus HIV-1 Nef peptides in both subjects. The phenotypes of IFN-γ producing cells were detected by sequential gating of CD45RA, CCR7 and CD27 on CD3⁺ CD8⁺ IFN-γ⁺ T-cells. Each point in the graphs represents the response to one overlapping peptide. The responses of both subjects in both time points are represented in each graph. (b) The percentage of central memory (TCM), transitional memory (TTEM), effector memory (EM) and terminally differentiated effector (TEMRA) CD8⁺ T-cells targeting pairs of consensus and autologous HIV-Nef peptides in an ICS assay. The graph represents an example of the difference in the phenotype of stimulated CD8⁺ T-cells between the two subjects.