Pulmonary DC reconstitution of aDC-depleted mice results in decreased apoptosis of IAV-specific CD8 T cells in the lungs. Groups of BALB/c mice were infected with a sublethal dose of IAV with or without aDC depletion as in Fig. 1. On day 3 p.i., groups of aDC-depleted mice were reconstituted i.n. with 2.5 × 10⁴ pulmonary pDCs (light gray bars) or CD8α⁺ DCs (dark gray bars) purified from the lungs of IAV-infected donors. On day 5 p.i., the frequency (A) and number (C) of tetramer⁺ CD8 T cells, and the frequency of apoptotic, tetramer⁺ CD8 T cells (B and D) per lung were measured. Data in A are representative FACS plots gated on CD3⁺CD8⁺ T cells. Numbers of tetramer⁺ CD8 T cells in the lungs were determined by subtracting background staining using the media control (A, top). Data in B are representative FACS plots gated on CD3⁺CD8⁺tetramer⁺ T cells. Data in C and D are pooled from two separate experiments (n = 6 mice/group). Means ± SEM are shown. *, P ≤ 0.05 relative to undepleted control group.