Figure 3.

CD8⁺ T cells from BALB/c mice immunized with Cat S mutant, VV gp120 protein induce strong IFNγ⁺ CD8⁺ T cell response to peptides IGPGRAFY-T, TT, V and VV. Furthermore, these CD8⁺ T cells are H2-D^d peptide-positive for s.p.TT10, s.p.T9 and s.p.V9. a) BALB/c mice were immunized with either WT gp120 or VV gp120 in CAF09, as described in the Material and Methods. 14 days following the last immunization, splenocytes were isolated and stimulated with (7.5μg/mL) minimal peptides s.p.TT10 (IGPGFAYTT), s.p.T9 (IGPGRAFYT), s.p.VV10 (IGPGRAFYVV), and s.p.V9 (IGPGRAFYV). b) representative data of CD8⁺ T cells positive for dextramers, D^d-s.p.TT10, D^d-s.p.T9, and D^d-s.p.V9. c) Percent of CD8⁺ T cells positive for dextramers, d) BALB/c mice were immunized with 10⁸ PFU of modified vaccinia virus expressing the HIV gp160_MN protein, 7 days post immunization, splenocytes were isolated and stimulated in vitro for 6 hours with (7.5μg/mL) peptides s.p.78, s.p.79, s.p.80 and s.p.81. Following stimulation, cells were stained for intracellular cytokine IFNγ. * indicates p < 0.05; ** indicates p < 0.01; and *** indicates p < 0.001.