Figure 2. A proposed model of phenotypic and functional characteristics of HSV-specific CD8⁺ T cells in HSV-seropositive symptomatic vs. asymptomatic individuals: (A) Majority of women are asymptomatic and clear the virus from the VM by mounting a protective T cell responses while some women are symptomatic and develop genital herpes. Significant differences in the quantity, the quality and the durability of effector memory (T_EM), tissue-resident memory (T_RM) and central memory(T_CM) CD8⁺ T cells specific to symptomatic vs. asymptomatic human HSV-2 epitopes are detected in symptomatic and asymptomatic women. (B) Potential interactions between an APC, presenting an asymptomatic vs. symptomatic epitope, (right) and a memory CD8⁺ T cell (left) occur in HSV-2 infected vaginal mucosa, and appear to be mediated by TCR/MHC, CD103/E-Cadherin, and CD127-IL7 pathways. (C) The balance between the asymptomatic vs. symptomatic epitopes will determine herpes protection vs. immunopathology.