Figure 7.

STING strongly supports DC maturation. (A) GM-CSF-BMDCs were generated from STING KO mice (KO) and WT-littermates (WT), directly infected with MVA-P7.5-NP-SIINFEKL-eGFP at MOI 5 and analyzed 12 h post-infection for the expression of CD86 and MHC II. Here, infected BMDC were determined by GFP expression (GFP+), whereas accompanying non-infected bystander DC showed no GFP expression (GFP-). (B,C) The maturation of cross-presenting BMDCs was analyzed after co-culturing of MVA-PK1L-OVA-infected STING KO (feeder KO) or WT feeder cells (feeder WT) at MOI 1 with either STING KO (presenter KO) or WT BMDCs (presenter WT) for 20 h. Data are depicted as (B) frequencies (%) or (C) mean fluorescent intensities (MFI) for the expression of CD40, CD86, and MHC II and are presented as mean ± SD of n = 3 BMDC preparations from individual mice per group (A) pooled from three independent experiments or (B,C) representative for one of two independent experiments, each with n = 3 BMDC preparations from individual mice per group. Statistical significance (P); *P ≤ 0.05; **P ≤ 0.01; ***P ≤ 0.001; ****P ≤ 0.0001.