expansion (of T cells)

19:02 Nov 7, 2022 

I'd use:
"....is known to increase/boost/enhance the CD8+ subpopulation of T cells." or something like that.

The use of IL-2 causes proliferation of the overall T-cell population, which in turn means the subpopulation of CD8+ cells also increases.

10:56 Nov 7, 2022 

In the document I am reading, this patent was mentioned as containing information about cell expansion: https://patents.google.com/patent/US6352694B1/en
In it we read (inter alia):
Antigen-specific T cells can be expanded in vitro for use in adoptive cellular immunotherapy in which infusions of such T cells have been shown to have anti-tumor reactivity in a tumor-bearing host. Adoptive immunotherapy has also been used to treat viral infections in immunocompromised individuals.
Techniques for expanding human T cells in vitro have relied on the use of accessory cells and exogenous growth factors, such as IL-2. The use of IL-2 and, for example, an anti-CD3 antibody to stimulate T cell proliferation is known to expand the CD8+ subpopulation of T cells.