IL-7 treatment improves the functionality of Melan-A–specific memory CD8⁺ T cells. A2/K^b mice were immunized with recombinant lentivector/Melan-A_26-35 and either left untreated or treated with rIL-7 during the effector phase of the primary immune response (days 10-23). (A) At the memory phase (day 58 after immunization), mice were rechallenged with adjuvant/Melan-A_26-35 immunizations. Eight days later, the number of Tet⁺ was measured ex vivo. Graphs represent the mean values. Error bars represent SD (n = 6). (B) At day 45 after primary immunization, PBMCs from immunized mice were shortly restimulated in vitro with Melan-A_26-35 peptides. Intracellular content of IFN-γ on stimulation was measured. (Left panels) Dot plots show one representative experiment. (Right panels) Histogram plots show the frequency of IFN-γ⁺ among CD8⁺ T cells, and the expression level (MFI) of IFN-γ in those cells. Error bars represent SD (n = 7-9). *P < .05.