Figure 6.

Influence of IFNAR expression on the cytotoxic activity of IFNα subtype-stimulated CD8⁺ T cells in vivo. Positively enriched CD8⁺ T cells from FV-specific TCRtg or IFNAR^−/− TCRtg mice and FV peptide-loaded WT or IFNAR^−/− BM-DCs (groups I–V) were adoptively transferred into IFNAR^−/− mice. Mice were treated daily with 8,000 units of recombinant IFNα4 starting from day 0 to day 2 post-transfer, except for group V, which did not receive any IFN treatment. At 3 days post-transfer, peptide-loaded and Cell Trace^TM Violet-labeled target cells (80 μM, high) were mixed with unloaded and Cell Trace^TM Violet-labeled target cells (2 μM, low) in a ratio of 1:1 and were injected i.v. into IFNAR^−/− mice. After 5 h, mice were sacrificed and the killing capacity was determined. (A) The experimental setup of the different groups (I–IV) and the scheme of the experimental timeline are shown. The percentages (+SEM) of target cell killing in spleen (B) and lymph nodes (C) are shown. Statistically significant differences between the groups were tested using Kruskal-Wallis one-way and Dunn's multiple comparison and are indicated by * for p < 0.05, ** for p < 0.01, and ns for not significant.