Figure 3.

Attenuated MULT-1MCMV induces strong antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cell response and efficiently stimulates CD8⁺ T cells in vitro. C57BL/6 mice were infected footpad with 2 × 10⁵ PFU of wild-type (WT) MCMV, RAE-1γMCMV, and MULT-1MCMV. (A) At different times after infection CD8⁺ T cells from spleen were analyzed after peptide stimulation for cytokine production (n = 5). (B) C57BL/6 bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) were infected with 2 PFU/cell of WT MCMV, RAE-1γMCMV, or MULT-1MCMV. After 24 h, infected BMDCs were co-incubated with splenocytes from Maxi or OT-1 mice for 6 h and IFN-γ production was measured by flow cytometry. Representative data from two to five independent experiments are shown. Data are presented as mean ± SEM and were analyzed using Student’s t-test. Asterisks denote significant values: *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001.