Figure 7. Differentiation of CD8⁺ T cells elicited by differentially response-programmed RhCMV vectors.

(A) Boxplots compare the memory differentiation phenotype of the vaccine-elicited CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ memory T cells in peripheral blood of the same RM cohorts reported in Fig. 6 responding to overall SIV Gag 15mer peptide mix with TNF and/or IFN-γ production during the vaccine phase plateau (24–85 weeks post-first vaccination). Memory differentiation state was based on CD28 and CCR7 expression, delineating central memory (T_CM), transitional effector-memory (T_TrEM), and effector-memory (T_EM), as designated. (B) Boxplots compare the frequency of vaccine-elicited CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ memory T cells in peripheral blood responding to the overall SIV Gag 15mer peptide mix with TNF, IFN-γ, IL-2, and MIP-1β production, alone and in all combinations, in the same samples as panel A. Wilcoxon p-values for comparison of all response parameters shown in panels A and B for the 68–1-only vaccine to all other vaccines are shown where significant (adjusted for multiple comparisons).