The number of inflationary T cells in peripheral tissues correlates with the protective capacity.

(A) Experimental setup: Naïve C57BL/6 mice were infected with either 2 × 102 (low dose) or 2 × 105 (high dose) PFU MCMV-ie2-SIINFEKL. Mice were challenged i. p. at 47 days post MCMV infection with 2 × 107 PFU VV-OVA. (B) Percentage of tetramer+ cells within total cells are shown in the blood as mean + SEM at indicated time points of n = 10 mice per group, pooled of two independent experiments. (C) Representative flow cytometry plots show the percentage of SIINFEKL-specific CD8 T cells determined by MHC Class I tetramer binding. Cells are gated on CD8 T cells and the percentage within the CD8 T cell pool is indicated. (D) Total numbers of SIINFEKL-specific CD8 T cells and CD127-/KLRG1+ expressing SIINFEKL-specific cells in the ovaries are shown at day 47 post MCMV-ie2-SIINFEKL infection as mean + SEM of n = 3 mice, shown is one representative experiment out of two independent experiments. (E) VV titres in the ovaries are shown 3 days post VV-OVA infection. (F) Total numbers of SIINFEKL-specific CD8 T cells in the ovaries at 3 days post-secondary challenge with VV-OVA. (E-F) Bar graphs represents mean + SEM of n = 5–12 mice, pooled from 2 independent experiments. Statistical analyses were performed using two-way ANOVA followed by Sidak's multiple comparisons test (B), the unpaired Student's t test (D, F) or the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Dunn's multiple comparisons test (E), *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ****p<0.0001.