Figure 4.

Protection provided by different doses of RTA1-33/44-198 vaccine against intranasal challenge with 10 LD50 ricin. Groups of 20 mice were vaccinated i.m., either 2.5 μg, 10 μg, or 40 μg/mouse RTA1-33/44-198, in a prime-booster-booster strategy two weeks apart. One group of mice received only the adjuvant, but not the immunogen (sham vaccine). Four weeks after the last booster immunization, the mice were challenged intranasally either with 10 LD50 ricin in PBS or PBS lacking ricin (sham challenge). On day 2 post-challenge, 10 mice in each group were sacrificed, and protein concentration in the BALF and total blood glucose concentrations were determined. The protein and glucose concentrations were repeated on day 13. (A) Protein concentrations in the BALF on day 2 post-challenge; (B) Protein concentrations in the BALF on day 13 post-challenge; (C) Blood glucose concentrations on day 2 post-challenge; (D) Blood glucose concentrations on day 13 post-challenge. In all panels, the columns represent group mean values, and the vertical bars show one standard deviation. p values above the lines with a knob on the left were calculated using an unpaired t-test to compare group mean values between the sham vaccine group and each group of vaccinated animals following ricin exposure; p values above the lines with a knob on the right were calculated to compare group mean values between the sham challenge group with each group of vaccinated animals.