Figure 9. Pathogenesis of NSV encephalitis in IRF7-, MyD88- and TLR3-deficient mice.
IRF7-deficient mice are highly susceptible to fatal NSV infection compared with wild-type controls (n = 10 per group) (A). This heightened disease susceptibility is associated with unrestrained viral replication in the brain (B, P = 0.0009 by two-way ANOVA) and spinal cord (C, P = 0.0002 by two-way ANOVA). Neither MyD88- nor TLR3-deficient mice show altered disease susceptibility compared with wild-type controls (n = 12 per group) (D, E). Both MyD88- and TLR3-deficient hosts generate equivalent levels of type-I IFN in the CNS over the course of infection compared with wild-type controls (F).