Extended Data Fig. 6: IL-7 signaling is indispensable to protect memory CD4+ T cells from ferroptosis.
a, Experimental setup of IL-7 signaling blockade with αIL-7-mAb at the maintenance stage of CD4+ T cell memory. Naïve SMARTA cells (CD45.1+) were adoptively transferred into C57BL/6J recipient mice (CD45.2+) and followed by infection with LCMV Arm+ the next day. Recipients were injected intraperitoneally with αIL-7-mAb or PBS (Vehicle) at day 60 post infection every three days for a total four doses before sacrifice. b, Representative contour plots of memory SMARTA cell frequency and statistical analysis of the decreased proportion of memory SMARTA cells in the PMBCs before and after αIL-7-mAb administration and the endpoint cell number of memory SMARTA cells in the spleens of recipients at day 60 post LCMV Arm+ infection in the context of IL-7 signaling blockade as described in a. c, d, Dead cells (c, 7-AAD+) and apoptotic cell death (d, Annexin V+ 7-AAD−) in memory SMARTA cells in spleens of recipients as described in a. e, Bodipy C11 intensity on SMARTA cells in spleens of recipients as described in a. The presented data are representative of two independent experiments (b-e, n=4 for αIL-7-mAb, n=5 for Control). Data are presented as mean values ± SD and analyzed by unpaired two-tailed t-test in b-e.
