Figure 4. NIK regulates generation of antigen-specific effector T cells in vivo.

(a) Age-matched (6–8 weeks old) WT and NIK-TKO mice were immunized with KLH in CFA. A week later, draining lymph node cells and splenocytes were harvested and restimulated with KLH for 3 days followed by detecting IFN-γ and IL-17 A in the supernatant by ELISA. (b,c) KLH-stimulated draining lymph cells from a were labeled with CFSE to assess KLH-stimulated proliferation of CD4⁺CD44⁺ T cells. After 4 days of stimulation with KLH (20 μg/ml), the percentage (b) and absolute numbers (c) of dividing cells (CFSE^low) were quantified by flow cytometry and presented as a representative plot (b) and means ± SD values of multiple mice (c, 4 mice/group).