Qualitative analysis of SIV-specific T-cell responses in untreated and IL-7-treated macaques.

<p>(A) Mean absolute numbers (± SEM) of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells producing one cytokine (single-producer, SP), two cytokines (double-producer, DP) or all three cytokines (triple-producer, TP) in response to SIV Tat peptide stimulation in untreated (shades of blue) and IL-7-treated (shades of red) animals. The asterisks indicate significant differences between SP T cells in untreated vs. IL-7-treated animals, as analyzed by Wilcoxon rank sum test. (B) Mean absolute numbers of SIV Tat-responding CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells in untreated (U) and IL-7-treated (IL-7) animals. The bars indicate the mean numbers of total responding cells; the colors indicate the mean numbers of IFN-γ, IL-2, or MIP-1β SP cells (shades of blue), IFN-γ/IL-2, IFN-γ/MIP-1β or IL-2/MIP-1β DP cells (shades of green), and IFN-γ/IL-2/MIP-1β TP cells (purple). The numbers above each bar indicate the fraction of monkeys that gave a measurable response over background to SIV Tat peptides at the corresponding time point. The grey shaded areas indicate the IL-7-treatment period. The asterisk indicates a significant difference between total responses in IL-7-treated vs, untreated macaques. (C) Qualitative analysis of SIV Tat-specific CD8⁺ T-cell responses in IL-7-treated and untreated macaques on day 62 post-infection. The pie charts indicate the average contribution of the various functional subpopulations of Tat-responding CD8⁺ T cells (single-, double- and triple-producing, SP, DP, TP, respectively) to the total number of Tat-responding cells in untreated and IL-7-treated animals at day 62 post-infection. The p value was calculated by permutation analysis using the Spice software.