Figure 4 from Generation, Transcriptomic States, and Clinical Relevance of CX3CR1⁺ CD8 T Cells in Melanoma

Antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cells CX3CR1⁻ CD8⁺ T cells differentiate to CX3CR1⁺ subsets within the tumor. A, Experimental protocol. B16F10-bearing mice were either injected with ex vivo-activated Pmel-1 CD8⁺ T cells (WT) or Pmel-1 Cd2-cre/Cx3cr1DTR/DTR CD8⁺ T cells. The scheme of generation of Pmel-1 Cd2-cre/Cx3cr1DTR/DTR mice is shown in Supplementary Fig. S1. B, Representative contour plots showing CD27/DTR expression of CD8 and CD90.1-gated Cd2-cre/Cx3cr1DTR/DTR CD8⁺ T cells in the spleen with or without vaccination with hgp100 and CD40/TLR7 agonists in vivo. C, Representative contour plots of CD8 and CD90.1-gated cells in the spleen (top) and the tumor (bottom). Numbers, percentage of the CX3CR1⁺ subset. Data panels right show frequency of CX3CR1⁺ CD8⁺ T cells [wild type (WT)] or DTR-expressing Pmel-1 Cd2-cre/Cx3cr1DTR/DTR CD8⁺ T cells (DTR/DTR) obtained from four mice in each group. NS, not significant by two-tailed unpaired t test.