Vaccine adjuvant-elicited CD8 T cell immunity is co-dependent on T-bet and FOXO1.

T-bet and FOXO1 are transcription factors canonically associated with effector and memory T cell fates, respectively. During an infectious response, these factors direct the development of CD8 T cell fates, where T-bet deficiency leads to ablation of only short-lived effector cells, while FOXO1 deficiency results in selective loss of memory. In contrast, following adjuvanted subunit vaccination in mice, both effector- and memory-fated T cells are compromised in the absence of either T-bet or FOXO1.