Figure 2. Characterization of T cell-specific, IκB-ζ-deficient mice.

(A) Lymphocyte cell counts in the spleen and LNs of 3-week-old Nfkbiz^flox/flox (Control) and Nfkbiz^flox/floxLck-Cre (cKO) mice (n = 9). (B and C) Activation status of CD4⁺ cells in the spleen and LNs of 3-week-old Control and cKO mice. Frequency of cells in each quadrant is shown as mean percentages of CD4⁺ cells that were (B) CD44⁻CD62L⁺ or (C) CD44⁺CD62L⁻ ± sem (n = 4). (D) Flow cytometry analysis of IFN-γ-producing CD4⁺ cells isolated from the spleen and LNs of Nfkbiz^flox/flox (Control) and Nfkbiz^flox/floxLck-Cre (cKO) mice at 3 weeks of age (n = 6). (E) Frequencies of CD4⁺ FOXP3⁺ T_regs in the thymus, spleen, and LNs of Nfkbiz^flox/flox (Control) and Nfkbiz^flox/floxLck-Cre (cKO) mice at 3 weeks of age (means ± sem; n = 6). (F) Frequencies of Ki67⁺ cells in the CD4⁺ FOXP3⁺ T_reg population harvested from the thymus, spleen, and LNs of 3-week-old Control and cKO mice are shown as means ± sem (n = 4). (G) Frequencies of Ki67⁺ cells in CD4⁺CD44^-CD62L⁺ (naïve T cells) and CD4⁺CD44⁺CD62L⁻ (effector T cells) cells harvested from the thymus, spleen, and LNs of 3-week-old control and cKO mice are shown as the means ± sem (n = 3). The horizontal bars represent the mean. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01.