Fig. 1.

Reverse transcription (RT)-PCR analysis of the TCR Vβ repertoire during human Ebola virus infection. Agarose gel electrophoresis of PCR products obtained with various (n = 20) combinations of Vβ gene family-specific and Cβ oligonucleotide primers was performed. Kinetics of mRNA expression of 10 TCR Vβ species in 10 uninfected control subjects (two are shown), fatal cases, nonfatal cases, and asymptomatically infected individuals are shown. (a) RT-PCR analysis of mRNA in eight fatal cases. The time before death is indicated at the bottom. (b) RT-PCR analysis of mRNA in four nonfatal cases during the symptomatic phase and in two of these cases a few days after symptoms ended. Each patient with a nonfatal case was sampled three times during the course of the disease, and two were also sampled a few days after symptoms ended. (c) RT-PCR analysis of mRNA in three asymptomatic individuals 7, 9, and 23 days following initial contact (IC).