FIG 10.

Treatment with mepazine in ERA virus-infected MALT1^+/+ mice: impact on survival, viral load, and neutralizing antibody production. (A) Schematic overview of the experimental setup. MALT1^+/+ mice were treated daily with mepazine (n = 7) or a control solution (0.9% NaCl) (n = 7) starting at day −2 before virus inoculation until the end of the experiment. Two days after the first treatment, mice were inoculated intranasally with ERA virus and monitored daily for signs of disease. (B) Survival curves. Four of seven mepazine-treated mice developed severe disease and had to be euthanized. Control mice and the remaining three mepazine-treated mice survived the infection. (C) Profile of viral RNA in total brains of mepazine-treated MALT1^+/+ mice (n = 7) and control mice (n = 7) at sacrifice determined by RT-qPCR. Mepazine-treated mice with severe disease had higher viral loads. (D) Humoral immune response in mepazine-treated mice and control mice. Mepazine-treated mice with severe disease had no neutralizing antibodies. Control mice and the three surviving mepazine-treated mice had developed protective levels of neutralizing antibodies. The results were obtained from one experiment.