FIGURE 1.

Necrotic NS3 DC2.4 cells are more immunogenic than live NS3 DC2.4 cells in C57BL/6 mice. Mice were vaccinated twice, at 2 week intervals with 10⁶ necrotic or live NS3 DC2.4 (A) 2 or (B) 4 weeks after the last dose. NS3-specific T cell responses were measured by IFN-γ production in an ELISpot assay. Splenocytes from vaccinated animals were re-stimulated with 3 different pools of overlapping peptides covering the complete NS3 protein (pools 1–3), or with a pool of H2^b (C57BL/6) T cell NS3 immunodominant epitopes. Plots are representative of two independent experiments (n = 7/group). Data represent mean SFU per 10⁶ splenocytes (±SEM). ^∗p < 0.05, ^∗∗p < 0.01, and ^∗∗p < 0.001 (Kruskal–Wallis H test).