FIG 3.

TSC1-deficient CD8 cells are severely impaired in a competitive adoptive-transfer system. (A) Schematic representation of the experimental design showing competitive adoptive transfers of naive WT and TSC1 KO OT1 cells into WT CD45.1⁺ CD45.2⁺ recipients. (B) Donor naive OT1 T cell mixture before adoptive transfer showing the percentages of WT and TSC1 KO cells during adoptive transfer. (C) Representative fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis of peripheral blood samples showing Vα2⁺ CD8 cells among the total PBMCs (top) and WT (CD45.1⁺ CD45.2⁻), TSC1 KO (CD45.1⁻ CD45.2⁺), and endogenous (CD45.1⁺ CD45.2⁺) populations within the gated Vα2⁺ CD8 population (bottom) at the postinfection times indicated. Adop, adoptive transfer. (D) Percentages of WT and TSC1 KO cells among the total PBMCs at the postinfection times indicated. (E) Percentages of WT and TSC1 KO central memory (CM) and effector memory (EM) cells at 7 weeks after primary Lm-Ova infection. The mean ± the standard error of the mean was calculated for five mice per group. The data shown are representative of three independent experiments. **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.001 (Student t test).