Figure 5. SP-D-4-1BBL and SP-D-BAFF induce distinct inflammatory responses and lymphocytic infiltration in the uterus and ovaries of vaccinia-Gag challenged animals.

BALB/c mice (5 per group) were immunized with Ad5-Gag with or without Ad5-TNFSF ligand adjuvant twice, two weeks apart. One month following the final vaccination, mice were challenged i.p. with 10⁷ vp vaccinia-Gag virus. Five days following challenge, mice were sacrificed and ovaries and uterus were dissected. Panel A: Uterus and ovaries in unvaccinated mouse challenged with vaccinia-Gag. Panel B: Uterus and ovaries in mouse vaccinated with Ad5-Gag plus Ad5-SP-D-4-1BBL. Note the enlargement and dusky erythema in the uterine cornu when AD5-SP-D-4-1BBL was used as the adjuvant. Panels C and D: Histology of unvaccinated and vaccinated mice challenged with vaccinia-Gag studies after formalin fixation, paraffin embedding, and staining with hematoxylin and eosin. Samples were examined at 100× and 300× magnification. White scale bar represents 200 µm (100×) or 40 µm (300×). Panel C shows the uterus histology following virus challenge of unvaccinated mice, Ad5-Gag vaccinated mice, Ad5-Gag/Ad5-SP-D-4-1BBL vaccinated mice, and Ad5-Gag/Ad5-SP-D-BAFF vaccinated mice. Panel D shows the ovaries of the same groups of mice as Panel C. Panel E: Ovary and uterus lysates were analyzed for cytokines using the Mouse Inflammatory Cytokine CBA Kit (BD Bioscience). Data pooled from experiments shown in Panels C and D.