FIG. 7.

CD40L-dSIVs induced stronger humoral and CMI responses in mice. (A) Sera collected from animals were analyzed by ELISA for SIV Gag-specific antibodies and by neutralization assay for anti-VSV antibodies. Sera were pooled for the 2-week samples in each group. “Week” refers to weeks postvaccination. (B) CD4⁺-cell-depleted splenocytes from each mouse set were seeded in triplicate into 96-well plates precoated with anti-IFN-γ monoclonal antibody. Cells were pulsed with a Gag peptide pool (1 μg/ml) for 24 h at 37°C. IFN-γ-secreting cells were counted as SFC and normalized as SFC/10⁶ cells. Bars represent means ± standard errors. A two-tailed paired t test was used for data analysis: *, P < 0.05 compared to results with PBS; **, P < 0.01 compared to results with PBS and dSIV individually (n = 5 for groups at week one; n = 10 for groups at week four).