DOCK8 maintains resident CD103⁺NK1.1⁺NKT T cells in the thymus. (A) Live TCRβ⁺αGalCer-tetramer⁺CD44⁺NK1.1⁺ NKT cells were flow-sorted to >99% purity from the thymuses of WT (n = 3) and DOCK8^cpm/cpm (CPM, n = 3) mice, which had been depleted of CD8⁺ T cells by magnetic-activated cell sorting, and RNA from the cells was hybridized to the MouseWG-6-V2 microarray. The heat map shows 52 genes differentially expressed in thymic WT and DOCK8^cpm/cpm (CPM) NK1.1⁺ T cells. (B) Expression of CD103 on αGalCer-tetramer⁺ NKT cells during development in the thymus in WT mice (representative of 3 independent experiments). (C) Expression of CD103, CD18, ICOS, and Tbet expression on WT (bold lines) and DOCK8^cpm/cpm (CPM, filled) NKT cells during thymic development in mixed chimeras (reconstituted as before). (D) Live TCRβ⁺αGalCer-tetramer⁺CD44⁺NK1.1⁺ NKT cells were flow-sorted to >99% purity from WT mice on the basis of CD103 expression (as in panel B), with 3 biological replicates before RNA isolation and microarray analysis (as in panel A).