FIG. 3.
Effect of vIFN-γbp deletion on the CD8 T-cell response in virus-infected C57BL/6 mice. Groups of C57BL/6 mice were infected with 103 PFU of ECTV-WT, ECTV-IFN-γbpΔ, or ECTV-IFN-γbpΔR. At day 8 p.i., mice were sacrificed and splenic virus-specific CTL activity was measured ex vivo using (A) virus-infected and uninfected MC57G target cells or (B) B8R20-27 peptide-pulsed DC2.4 target cells. Splenocytes from infected mice at day 8 p.i. were also used to determine the proportion of IFN-γ-producing CD8 T cells by intracellular cytokine staining. To study the contribution of the B8R determinant in the context of the total anti-ECTV response (C), virus-infected DC2.4 cells were used as stimulator cells. To compare the contributions of other known determinants (D), splenocytes were stimulated with B8R20-27, A19L47-55, A47L138-146, A42R88-96, A3L270-277, A8R189-196, B2R54-62, A23R297-305, J3R289-296, L2R53-61, or a combination of all 10 peptides (P10). The data are represented as means ± standard errors of the mean for 9 to 12 mice per group. KO, knockout.