Fig. 8. Viral loads in lungs of mice infected 3 months after last injections.
a RT-qPCR analysis. Four to six days after challenge, injected mice (6 per group) were sacrificed, and lungs processed for the extraction of total RNA. One μg of total RNA from each infected mouse was then analyzed by RT-qPCR for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 N-specific RNAs. As internal control, actin RNA was also amplified. Shown are the N-specific viral RNA copies amplified from total RNA isolated from lungs of each animal, together with intragroup mean values. *p < 0.01, error bars, s.e.m. b Detection of both Spike- and N-specific CD8+ T cells within PBMCs isolated both 4 and 6 days after infection (3 mice per group). A total of 105 PBMCs were incubated overnight with or without 5 μg/ml of either unrelated, Spike- or N- specific peptides in IFN-γ EliSpot microwells. Shown are numbers of SFUs/well calculated as mean values of triplicates after subtraction of mean spot numbers calculated in wells of splenocytes treated with unspecific peptides. Reported are intragroup mean values, error bars, s.e.m.