Figure 1.

Toll-like receptor (TLR)7-deficient mice experience exaggerated rhinovirus (RV)-induced exacerbation. Allergic wildtype (WT) and TLR7-deficient mice were inoculated with live or UV-inactivated RV1B, samples collected 24 h post infection. Levels of interferons (A) and interleukin (IL)-5 (G) in clarified lung homogenates as assessed by ELISA. (B) Lung viral titre in infected mice was quantified via quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) and 50% tissue culture infectious dose (TCID₅₀). (C) Total lung resistance presented as percentage change in response to methacholine (n=4–6 mice per group). Peribronchial/perivascular eosinophils and cellular infiltrates in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid enumerated by light microscopy (D and E). (F) Numbers of lung mDCs and CD4+/CD8+ T cells quantified by flow cytometry. (G) CCL11 expression in lower airway tissue enumerated by qRT-PCR and expressed as % increase over WT house dust mite (HDM)+UV group. Results are mean±SEM (n=3–6 mice per group) and are representative of two independent experiments. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001 as compared to strain-matched HDM+UV group or otherwise indicated determined by students t test except for (C) where analysis of variance was used to compare RI curves.