Figure 7.

Test of model prediction for the RSV titre kinetics in the lungs of CD8⁺ T-cell depleted or cyclophosphamide-treated adult cotton rats. The model prediction regarding the reduction of CD8⁺ T-cell response was tested by measuring RSV titre kinetics in the lungs of CD8⁺ T-cell non-depleted, CD8⁺ T-cell depleted, and cyclophosphamide-treated geriatric (age ∼ 270+ days) cotton rats. In cyclophosphamide-treated cotton rats, all rapidly replicating cells are depleted thus the adaptive immune response is severely blocked in these animals. Depletion was modelled by reducing δ_A alone by approximately fivefold and cyclophosphamide treatment was modelled by reducing δ_A alone by 10-fold. The varying effects only take place approximately after 5 days. Similar to figure 7, the model prediction is in excellent agreement with the measurements. (Online version in colour.)