Figure 9.

Average size of epitope-specific CD8${}^{+}$ T-cell response is unrelated to the number of HIV-specific T-cell responses. For every patient, we calculated the average number of HIV-specific CD8${}^{+}$ T-cell responses and the average density of epitope-specific T cells in a given observation period. To exclude the contribution of viral load to this relationship, we divided all 22 patients into three groups according to their mean viral load (low ${log}_{10}$ viral load: 3.40–4.44 (disks) (A); intermediate viral load: 4.60–5.03 (stars) (B); high viral load: 5.25–6.83 (diamonds) (C)). Groups were estimated using the Manhattan Distance with the FindClusters function in Mathematica. Regression lines and corresponding p values are indicated on individual panels. Overall, results varied by time period and most correlations were not statistically significant (Figure S12).