Gene coexpression in HIV-specific CD8 cells. (A) Polyfunctionality distribution of CD8 T cells from HIV-seronegative subjects and of Ac-tet⁺ and Chr-tet⁺ cells. Coexpression of 12 different effector molecules was analyzed in T_EM individual cells from each subject (see also supplemental Figure 1 for coexpression patterns). The graphs represent the proportion of cells expressing 0 to 9 of the effector mRNAs analyzed in: left, T_EM cells from 3 HIV-seronegative subjects; middle, Ac-tet⁺ cells from 7 infected persons; and right, Chr-tet⁺ cells from 9 infected persons. (B-C) Decline in the cytolytic activity in HIV tet⁺ cells from acute to chronic infection. In each individual patient, the same tet⁺ population was studied in both acute infection and at a chronic time point in the same experiments. (B) Results are the frequency of tet⁺ cells coexpressing cytotoxic effector genes. (C) Results are the expression levels of cytolytic proteins in 1 of the 5 patients studied, with similar results.