FIG. 7.

NKG2D ligands and receptor are expressed in the spinal cords of mice persistently infected with JHMV. (A) Real-time PCR analysis revealed that levels of mRNA transcripts for NKG2D ligands were increased compared to those of sham-infected mice within the spinal cords of mice chronically infected at days 21 and 29 p.i. A minimum of three mice per time point was used for analysis. (B) Greater than 90% of CD8⁺ T cells (black diamonds; right y axis) retained in the spinal cords of infected mice expressed NKG2D on days 12, 21, and 35 p.i. The number of NKG2D⁺ CD8⁺ T cells (gray bars; left y axis) was greatest at day 12 p.i. and decreased at days 21 and 35 p.i. (C) Treatment with anti-NKG2D did not alter the infiltration of T cells or macrophages on day 29 p.i. (D) Anti-NKG2D treatment did not reduce the total number of virus-specific CD8⁺ T cells on day 32 p.i. as determined by intracellular IFN-γ staining following pulsing with N318-326 peptide, and (E) there were no differences in the overall IFN-γ transcript levels as determined by quantitative real-time PCR analysis on day 29 p.i. Data are presented as the averages ± SEM. Data are representative of two independent experiments with a minimum of three mice per time point.