Recirculating mature T cells home to infected thymuses, leading to increased frequency of cytokine producing Th17 and T CD8⁺ IFN-γ⁺.

<p>Male BALB/c mice (n = 5 mice/group for each analyses per experiment replicate) were inoculated with 5x10⁶ Pb18 yeasts contained in PBS intraperitoneally or with only PBS (control group). One hundred and twenty days after inoculation, mice were killed and the thymus was collected and processed individually for analysis. A) Frequency of CD44^hiCD24^lo T cells increased among CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ subpopulations in 120dpi compared to the naive group. B) Cytokine producing T cells, Th17 and CD8⁺IFNγ⁺ was found in 120dpi, while practically absent in the naive group. Representative data from three independent experiments with similar results. At least 20000 events were analyzed with FlowJo vX.0.7 (Tree Star Inc., Ashland, OR, USA). Statistical analysis was carried out with Student’s t-test. ***p<0.001, ****p<0.0001. Representative data from three independent experiments with similar results.