Fig. 5: HIV-specific CD8⁺ T cell responses limit the amount of persistent HIV antigens in lymph nodes during ART.

a, b Intracellular cytokine staining was conducted after stimulating PBMCs and lymph node mononuclear cells (LNMCs) with HIV-Gag. a Representative flow cytometry plots and aggregate data of 14 donors showing IFN-γ⁺ CD8⁺ T cells, and b IFN-γ⁺ CD4⁺ T cells after stimulation with HIV-1 clade C Gag peptide pools. Correlation analysis of average Gag p24 density; measured from image analysis, with the frequency of c IFN-γ⁺CD8⁺ T cells and d IFN-γ⁺CD4⁺ T cells in LNMCs and PBMCs. e Representative flow cytometry plots of CFSE-labeled CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells after 7-days of stimulation of LNMCs with HIV-1 clade C Gag peptide pools. f Aggregate data correlating CFSEloCD8⁺ and CFSEloCD4⁺ T cell responses and Gag p24 density. g Representative flow plot and aggregate data showing frequency of HIV Gag-specific CXCR5⁺ CD8⁺ T cells. All statistical tests are two-sided and p values are from the Mann–Whitney U test (a, b, g). Spearman rho (r) and p values are reported for correlation analysis (c, d, f). Source data are provided as a source data file.