Fig. 2

Gating strategy – analysis of lymphocyte subpopulations. Light scatter characteristics were used for rough determination of the lymphocyte gate and exclusion of debris (a). Lymphocytes were determined as all CD3⁺ and/or CD2⁺ cells (b). From all lymphocytes, the percentage of γδTCR⁺ cells (γδ T cells) was determined (c). γδ T cells were subdivided into three subclasses based on CD2 and CD8 expression: CD2⁺CD8⁺, CD2⁺CD8⁻, CD2⁻CD8⁻ (d). Individual subpopulations of γδTCR⁻ T cells were defined as follows: Th cells: CD2⁺CD3⁺CD4⁺CD8⁻γδTCR⁻; DP cells: CD2⁺CD3⁺CD4⁺CD8⁺γδTCR⁻ and Tc cells: CD2⁺CD3⁺CD4⁻CD8^hiγδTCR⁻ (f). In addition to T cells, we also defined NK cells as CD2⁺CD3⁻CD4⁻CD8^loγδTCR⁻ (e)