Figure 1.

(a) Survival of wild-type, gzmAxB^−/− and perfxgzmAxB^−/− mice infected with LCMV-WE. Groups (nine mice each) of B6 (dashed line) or gzmAxB^−/−(dotted line) or perfgzmAxB^−/− (line) mice were infected with 1 × 10⁵ p.f.u. LCMV-WE i.p., and survival was monitored for 30 days. (b) LCMV-WE replication in the liver of WT, gzmAxB^−/− and perfxgzmAxB^−/− mice. Groups of B6, gzmAxB^−/− and perfxgzmAxB^−/− (18 mice per strain) recipients were infected with 1 × 10⁵ p.f.u. LCMV-WE i.p. Six mice from each group were killed at 8, 12 and 19 days p.i. Virus titers of individual mice were determined by the plaque titer assay as described in the ‘Materials and Methods' section. (c) Expression of mRNA in ex vivo LCMV-immune CD8-enriched Tc cells from WT, gzmAxB^−/− and perfxgzmAxB^−/− mice. Total mRNA was isolated from ex vivo LCMV-immune CD8-enriched Tc cells (day 8 p.i.) from wild-type, gzmAxB^−/− and perfxgzmAxB^−/− mice, previously infected with 1 × 10⁵ p.f.u. LCMV-WE i.p. Samples were analyzed by RT-PCR for their expression of transcripts using specific primers for gzmA-G, gzmK, gzmM, Prf1 and Hprt1. (d) Intracellular expression of gzm and perf protein in ex vivo LCMV-immune CD8-enriched Tc cells (day 8 p.i.). Ex vivo LCMV-immune CD8-enriched Tc cells (day 8 p.i.) of wt, gzmAxB^−/− and perfxgzmAxB^−/− mice, infected with 1 × 10⁵ p.f.u. LCMV-WE i.p. were analyzed by FACS for intracellular expression of gzmK (blue line) using the respective rabbit anti-K immune serum and the control pre-immune serum (red line)