Figure 4.

NK cell deficiency did not affect other lymphocyte numbers, except for an increase in NKT cells in uninfected mice. NK cell-deficient (Ncr1-iCre^Tg/WT ROSA-DTA^Tg/WT) and non-deficient (Ncr1-iCre^Tg/WT ROSA-DTA^WT/WT, Ncr1-iCre^WT/WT ROSA-DTA^Tg/WT, Ncr1-iCre^WT/WT ROSA-DTA^WT/WT) C57BL/6 mice were infected with PbNK65. Daily treatment from 8 until 12 dpi with 10 mg/kg artesunate + 30 mg/kg chloroquine (ART+CQ). Mice were dissected at 8 dpi for untreated groups and 12 dpi for ART+CQ-treated groups. Pulmonary cells were isolated according to protocol 2 and flow cytometry was performed. The absolute number of (A) CD4⁺ T cells (CD45⁺ CD3⁺ NK1.1^- CD4⁺), (B) CD8⁺ T cells (CD45⁺ CD3⁺ NK1.1^- CD8⁺), (C) NKT cells (CD45⁺ CD3⁺ NK1.1⁺) and (D) B cells (CD45⁺ CD3^- NK1.1^- B220⁺) in the lungs were calculated. Data from three experiments. Each symbol represents data of an individual mouse. n = 6 for CON NK^WT and CON NK^def, n = 15 for UT NK^WT, n = 11 for UT NK^def, n = 5 for ART+CQ NK^WT, n = 3 for ART+CQ NK^def. The non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test followed by the Holm-Bonferroni correction was used to determine significance between each condition for the NK cell-deficient mice and between each condition for the non-deficient mice and between the NK cell-deficient and non-deficient mice within each condition. P-values were indicated as follows: *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001. Median in each group was indicated by a horizontal black line, unless indicated otherwise. Statistical differences compared to the appropriate uninfected control group are indicated with asterisk above the individual data sets and horizontal lines with asterisk on top indicate significant differences between groups.