FIG 7.

Recombinant IL-17A increased the functionality of CD8⁺ T cells and favored parasite control in infected anti-CD20-treated mice. Mice infected with 5,000 trypomastigotes of T. cruzi strain Tulahuén were injected with isotype control (control, white bars) or anti-CD20 mAb 8 days before infection. Infected mice injected with anti-CD20 mAb were injected with PBS (αCD20, black bars) or rIL-17A (αCD20 + rIL-17A, gray bars) at 12, 14, 16, and 18 dpi. The spleens of the different groups of mice were obtained at 20 dpi. (A) Representative dot plot and statistical analysis of the percentage and number of IFN-γ⁺ or the percentage of TNF⁺ cells, gated on CD8⁺ T cells, obtained after polyclonal or Ag-specific stimulation. (B) Representative histograms and statistical analysis of T-bet expression in total and Tskb20/K^b+ CD8⁺ T cells from infected control (black solid line) or anti-CD20-treated mice injected with PBS (black dashed line) or with rIL-17A (gray solid line). (C) Relative amounts of T. cruzi satellite DNA in liver, spleen, and heart determined at 20 dpi. Murine GAPDH was used for normalization. Results are representative of three (A and B) and two (C) independent experiments with 5 to 6 (A and B) or 3 to 4 (C) mice per group each. P values were calculated with one-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni’s posttest.