Fig. 2

CD127 expression and CD127^lowPD-1^high T cells in patients with septic shock and healthy volunteers (HVs). a Cell surface expression of CD127 was measured by flow cytometry on septic shock patients’ CD4⁺ (left panel) and CD8⁺ (right panel) T cells at day 1 (D1, n = 15), day 3 (D3, n = 21), and day 7 (D7, n = 10) after the onset of shock in comparison with HVs (n = 20). Results are expressed as median of fluorescence intensity (MFI) on selected CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells. b Expression of IL7R1 mRNA transcript, coding for cell surface CD127, was measured by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction using RNA extracted from purified T cells at D1 (n = 13), D3 (n = 20), and D7 (n = 7) for patients with septic shock in comparison with HVs (n = 18). c Gating strategy for the determination of the percentage of CD127^lowPD-1^high T cells. Sequential gating was used to select first the CD3⁺ T-cell population among all leukocytes and then CD3⁺ CD4⁺ and CD3⁺ CD8⁺ T-cell subsets among CD3⁺ cells. PD-1 and CD127 expression thresholds were defined using isotype controls. One example of a CD127 and PD-1 staining among CD8⁺ T cells in one HV and one septic shock patient are represented. d The percentage of CD127^lowPD-1^high among CD4⁺ (left panel) and CD8⁺ (right panel) T cells at day 1 (D1, n = 15), day 3 (D3, n = 21), and day 7 (D7, n = 10) after the onset of shock in comparison with HVs (n = 20) is represented. Data are presented as Tukey boxplots. Mann–Whitney tests were used to compare values between patients with septic shock and HV, *P <0.05.