Fig. 5: Plaque-antigen expanded T cells express TOX.
a, Congenic CD4 T cells reactive against a peptide sequence of human apolipoprotein B-100 (apoB-100; TRBV31+ CD4 T cells) from CD45.1+ BT3 mice were transferred into atherosclerotic mice that produce human apoB-100 (APOB100TgLdlr−/−; HuBL mouse, ‘Host’). HuBL mice were fed an HCD for 3 weeks after adoptive transfer and then euthanized (n = 6 per group). b,c, Representative flow cytometry plots of PD-1 expression and quantification of PD-1 subsets within host CD4 T cells or transgenic BT3 CD4 T cells in spleens of recipient HuBL mice. Representative flow cytometry plots and quantification of Tim3+ (**P = 0.0022) (d,e) and Tox (**P = 0.0022) (f,g) expression within transgenic (BT3) and non-transgenic (Host) memory CD4 T cells in spleen of HuBL mice. h, T cell composition comparing non-transgenic (Host) and transgenic (BT3) CD44+CD4 T cells in the spleen. i, Atherosclerotic plaques from carotid endarterectomy patients were analyzed by scRNA-seq to evaluate gene expression differences between non-expanded (single clone) compared to expanded (≥2 clones) T cells (n = 3). j,k, Average expression of T cell exhaustion-related genes in plaque CD4 and CD8 T cells. e,g, Bars denote median, analyzed with two-sided Mann–Whitney U-test.
