Fig. 8. eT_RM cell preconditioning of naive CD8⁺ T cells occurs through homeostatic MHC I-dependent DC interactions.

(A) Lethally irradiated CD45.1 congenic mice were injected with 1:1 mixtures of either WT or αV-ΔDC and MHC I-deficient B2m^−/− bone marrow cells. Eight weeks later, the expression of H-2K^b and αV on CD45.1⁺ CD11⁺ cells in peripheral blood was assessed to determine the frequency of cells that express either one of both proteins. Data are means ± SEM (n=8 for WT and n=6 for αV-ΔDC) and representative of four independent experiments. (B) CD103 expression on naive CD8⁺ T cells in the peripheral blood of αV-ΔDC : B2m^−/− mixed BMCs, in which expression of αV and MHC I on DCs is segregated. Data are means and replicates and representative of two independent experiments. (C) 10⁶ naive OT-I cells were adoptively transferred into BMCs. Three weeks later, mice were vaccinated by ear tattoo with OVA-encoding plasmid DNA. After an additional 4 weeks, CD69 and CD103 expression was assessed on transferred OT-I T cells in skin. Data are means and replicates and representative of two independent experiments. */****: p<0.05/p<0.0001 (Two-tailed unpaired Student’s t-tests in (B-C)).