Figure 3

Progressive dysregulation of the virus-specific CD8⁺T cell repertoire over time. Using the same cohorts of mice described in Figure1, blood was collected from individual mice at 1, 8, 12, 15 and 19 months post infection and stained with either NP_324-332K^b tetramer or altered peptide tetramer, 8ENP_324-332K^b and analyzed by flow cytometry. A, The percentage of 8ENP_324-332K^b+ cells relative to NP_324-332K^b+ cells is shown, filled red circles indicate mice with frequencies less than 3SDs from the normal frequency observed at 1 month (horizontal line). B, The frequency of NP_324-332K^b+ cells among total CD8⁺ T cells are shown for mice with decreased 8E and are indicated by red filled circles. In all panels, the horizontal line indicates frequency greater than 3SDs from the normal frequency observed at 1 month.