Fig 2. VANBT infection in cotton rats induces pulmonary chemokine, IFN, and proinflammatory cytokine mRNA expression.

Cotton rats were infected i.n. with 10⁶ TCID₅₀ of VANBT or the same amount of UV-VANBT. Groups of 4 animals were euthanized at each indicated time point. Results are representative of two independent experiments. Relative gene expression profile of chemokines (GRO, MCP-1, IP-10 and RANTES), IFN-β, two IFN-inducible genes (Mx-1 and Mx-2), and pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and IFN-γ) in the lung tissues were measured by qRT-PCR. Results are calculated as fold induction over uninfected (naïve) animals and expressed as geometric means ± SE, *p<0.05 for VANBT compared with UV-VANBT at each time point.