Figure 2.

Infection with IPA caused an impaired survival (A) and an aggravated course of the disease (B) in CD18^Ly6G cKO as compared to CD18^fl/fl mice. CD18^fl/fl and CD18^Ly6G cKO mice were infected i.t. with A fumigatus (each 10⁷ conidia/mouse) in 2 independent experiments. (A) Survival was monitored daily for 2 weeks and is presented in a Kaplan-Meier survival curve. In parallel settings PMN were depleted in some mice via injection of an anti-Gr-1 antibody one day before infection. Data show the cumulative results of two independent experiments with a total of 12 (CD18^fl/fl) and 13 (CD18^Ly6G cKO) mice/group. 5 mice/group received an anti-Gr-1 antibody in order to deplete PMN in these mice. All Gr-1 depleted mice died within the first days after IPA infection, whereas all non-depleted CD18^fl/fl mice survived. By contrast, some non-depleted CD18^Ly6G cKO mice (n=2) deceased within the first week after IPA infection. (B) The clinical course of IPA of monitoring was assessed in CD18^fl/fl (n=7) and CD18^Ly6G cKO mice (n=8) for 14 days. Parameters comprised breathing, reaction to pain overall appearance, hypothermia, strong weight loss, motoric disabilities and apathy (each 0-2).