Aged splenic DCs loaded with cognate peptide exhibit a similar ability to prime antigen specific CD8⁺ T cells as compared to young splenic DCs.

<p>A: Aged and young splenic DCs were cultured with OTI T cells in the presence of OVA peptide and proliferation measured. Representative from one experiment, which was repeated with similar results. B: Young hosts (N = 3/group) were adoptively transferred with young CD45.1⁺ OTI T cells and either young or aged splenic DCs that had been pulsed with OVA peptide (or irrelevant peptide, GP33, as a control). After 5 days, expansion of transferred young OTI T cells was assessed. Proportion of transferred T cells is shown in the box in each flow plot. Representative data from one experiment, which was repeated with similar results. C: Same experiment as B except that cytokine production by the transferred OTI T cells (gated on CD45.1⁺ population) is measured by intracellular cytokine staining. Proportion % is shown in each flow plot.