Fig. 7

Cytokine producing effector memory CD4⁺ T cells are responsive to antigenic recall and are increased during mild cardiac Chagas disease. A Representative dot plots of the expression of TNF, IL-2, and CD107a (x-axis) by IFN-γ (y-axis) from controls and infected patients in different stages of Chagas disease (A, B1, B2-C-D), before and after the stimulation with soluble T. cruzi antigen (STcA). CD4⁺ T cells are colored in gray and FlowSOM populations 7 and 25 in red. B Frequencies of IFN-γ, TNF, IL-2, and CD154⁺TNF⁺IFN-γ⁺ cells in CD4⁺ T cells stimulated (STcA) or not (NS) with soluble T. cruzi antigen. Each dot represents an individual. Lines connect paired observations from the same individual. C Frequencies of IFN-γ, IFN-γ and TNF, IFN-γ and TNF and CD154 in effector memory (EM) CD4⁺ T cells. Bars represent the median and interquartile range. Asterisks represent significant differences between the assigned group and controls. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001