Figure 4.

T-cell-specific loss of Bim increases survival of effector CD8⁺ T cells with preferential enrichment for KLRG1^loCD127^hi cells. (a) Splenocytes from Bim^f/f and dLckCRE⁺ Bim^f/f mice (n=4) were stained with antibodies against CD8, CD4 and TCR and intracellularly against Bim. Histograms show staining for Bim (black) or isotype control (gray) in subsets indicated from each group of mice. (b and c) Bim^f/f and dLckCre⁺ Bim^f/f mice (n=6–10) were infected with LCMV and killed 10 or 22 days later. (b) Graphs show total numbers of CD8⁺GP33⁺ KLRG1^hiCD127^lo and CD8⁺GP33⁺ KLRG1^loCD127^hi cells on indicated days after infection. (c) Graphs show total numbers of CD8⁺ GP33⁺ cells or percentages of CD8⁺ GP33⁺ KLRG1^hiCD127^lo or KLRG1^loCD127^hi subsets in indicated groups 22 days after infection. (d) 5 × 10³ WT or Bim^−/− P14 Thy1.1⁺ CD8⁺ T cells were transferred into congenic WT or Bim^−/− mice (n=4–6 recipient mice per genotype per timepoint) and infected with LCMV 1 day later. Graphs show total numbers of CD8⁺ CD44^hi GP33-sp cells (p14 and endogenous) versus overall CD8⁺ CD44^hi cells in different recipient animals on day 20 after infection. Data are representative of three independent experiments. **P≤0.01