Effects of IL-7 on memory CD8⁺ T cell homeostasis are influenced by the timing of therapy in mice
J. Clin. Invest. Som G. Nanjappa, et al. 118:1027 doi:10.1172/JCI32020 [Go to this article.]

Figure 3
Effect of IL-7 treatment during the contraction phase on cellular apoptosis and proliferation. C57BL/6 mice were infected with LCMV and treated daily with IL-7 or PBS between days 7 and 14 after infection. (A) Bcl-2 and Bcl-x_L expression in LCMV-specific CD8 T cells. On day 15 after infection, intracellular levels of Bcl-2 and Bcl-x_L in epitope-specific CD8 T cells from PBS and IL-7–treated mice were determined by flow cytometry. The histograms are gated on tetramer-binding CD8 T cells and the numbers are the mean fluorescence intensity of staining for Bcl-2 or Bcl-x_L ± SD. (B) On the indicated days after LCMV infection, the number of proapoptotic epitope-specific annexin V^hi CD8 T cells in the spleen was assessed directly ex vivo using flow cytometry. (C) Proliferation of LCMV-specific CD8 T cells in PBS- and IL-7–treated mice. Mice were treated with BrdU between days 7 and 14 after infection, and in vivo BrdU incorporation by epitope-specific CD8 T cells was determined by flow cytometry. The histograms are gated on tetramer-binding CD8 T cells, and the numbers are the percentages of BrdU^+ve cells among epitope-specific CD8 T cells ± SD. The data in A–C were derived from 4 to 5 mice/group.