The following fluorochrome-conjugated antibodies (Abs) were used for polychromatic flow cytometry analysis: CD3-Pacific-blue (UCHT1), CD4-Alexa-Fluor 700 (RPA-T4), CCR4-PE-Cy7 (1G1), CCR6-PE (11A9), CCR7-PE-Cy7 (3D12), CXCR3-PE-Cy5 (1C6) (BD Biosciences, San Diego, California, USA), CCR7-FITC (150503) (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA), CD45RA-APC-eFluor780 (HI100) (eBioscience, San Diego, California, USA), CD3-Alexa700 (UCHT1), CD326-BV650 (9C4), CD8-PerCP-Cy5.5 (RPA-T8), CD19-PerCP-Cy5.5 (HIB19), CD66b-PerCP-Cy5.5 (G10F5), human leukocyte antigen - antigen D related (HLA-DR)-BV785 (L243; Biolegend ,San Diego, California USA), CD4-FITC (SFCI12T4D11), and HIV-p24-RD1 (FH190–1–1); (Beckman Coulter, Fullerton, California, USA). Live/Dead Fixable Aqua Dead Cell Stain Kit (Vivid; Life Technologies, Burlington, Ontario, Canada) was used to exclude dead cells. Cells were analyzed by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) using the BD-LSRII cytometer and BD-Diva (BD Biosciences) and FlowJo (Tree Star, Inc., Ashland, Oregon, USA) softwares. All Abs were titrated for an optimal noise/signal ratio and Ab cocktails were validated by comparing single with multiple staining. Positive gates were placed based on fluorescence minus one controls [41 (link),69 ].