Figure 6.

Protective immune response after DNA immunization. Groups of eight mice were immunized as described in the Materials and methods. Fifteen days after the last immunization, mice were injected with 3 mg of Depo Provera (DP). Five days following the administration of DP, mice were challenged intravaginally with 5 × 10⁶ plaque-forming units (PFU) of herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2) MS strain. Survival rates of controls and animals immunized with the expression vector pCDNAgpD alone or together with pCD80 or pCD86 by the intramuscular (i.m.) or intradermal (i.d.) route was calculated (left panel). Numerical scores were assigned to specific disease signs using the following scale: 0, no symptoms; 1, mild inflammation; 2, moderate swelling; 3, severe inflammation; 4, paralysis; 5, death. Daily mean lesion score was calculated by dividing the sum of a group's lesion scores by the number of observations (right panel).