Figure 4.

Diminished reactivation of cytolytic CD8⁺ T cells after therapeutic vaccination of chronically infected IFNAR^−/− mice. (A) Chronically infected C57BL/6 mice were vaccinated subcutaneously either with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) or CpG and FV peptide functionalized calcium phosphate (CaP) nanoparticles (NPs). 7 days postvaccination RNA was isolated from splenocytes and expression of IFNα was analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR. (B) Splenocytes were isolated 7 days postvaccination from non-infected naïve wt or chronically infected wt and IFNAR^−/− mice and stained for granzyme B expression in CD43⁺ CD8⁺ T cells and tetramer⁺ FV-specific CD43⁺ CD8⁺ T cells. (C) Infectious centers in the spleen were determined 7 days postvaccination. The results of two independent experiments are shown, n = 6–7. Bars represent mean ± SEM. Statistical analysis was performed by Student’s t-test (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001).