Presence and function of EBV-specific CD8⁺ T cells and EBV load in 3 HIV-1 infected individuals with AIDS-NHL.

On the x-axis follow-up is indicated in months after HIV-1⁺entry in the study. The arrows indicate the time of AIDS-NHL diagnosis (NHL) and start of antiretroviral therapy (DDI). The vertical dotted line indicates the time point at which CD4⁺ T cell counts drop below 200/μL. (A) Longitudinal analysis of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T-lymphocyte numbers. (●) indicates CD4; (○), CD8. (B) Longitudinal analysis of EBV-specific CD8⁺ T lymphocytes as assessed by tetramer staining as a composite of all tested tetramers (solid line) and IFN-γ Elispot assay (dashed line), as described in “Patients, materials, and methods.” (●) indicates tetramer; (○), IFN-γ. (C). Longitudinal analysis of EBV load, expressed as the number of virus copies per 10⁶ PBMCs (solid line), in comparison with the number of functional EBV-specific CD8⁺ T lymphocytes per 10⁶ CD8⁺ T cells (dashed line). (●) indicates EBV load; (○), IFN-γ.