Lymphocyte changes in LN after hetIL-15 treatment.

(A) Step-dose regimen of six SC hetIL-15 administrations in rhesus macaques. LN, blood and mucosal tissue lymphocytes were analyzed before (pre) and after treatment (+hetIL-15). Flow cytometry dot plots of LN mononuclear cells show (B) the frequency of CD8⁺ memory subsets, naïve (T_N, CD28⁺CD95^low), central memory (T_CM, CD28^highCD95⁺) and effector memory (T_EM, CD28^-CD95⁺), and (D) granzyme B content and cycling status (GrzB⁺Ki67⁺) from a representative uninfected macaque (R921) upon hetIL-15 treatment. Graphs (C, E, F) summarize results of 16 macaques treated with hetIL-15 of (C) frequency of effector memory CD8⁺ T cells, (E) CD8⁺GrzB⁺ T cells, and (F) cycling (Ki67+) CD8⁺ T cells. Analysis was performed on LN of 9 uninfected animals (filled symbols) and 7 SHIV⁺ macaques (open symbols). Black symbols, pre; red symbols, +hetIL-15. P values are from paired Wilcoxon signed rank test. The 12 animals that were also analyzed for hetIL-15 effects in blood and mucosal tissues (Figs 2 and 3) are indicated by *.