Fig. 2

Proliferation, maturation and effector function of NK cells. DEREG mice were infected with FV and mice were Treg-depleted by repeated injections of DT. Uninfected DEREG mice were used as controls. At 12 dpi splenocytes were analyzed by flow cytometry. For the analysis of NK cells doublets were excluded and viable lymphocytes were determined. NK cells were identified from these cells as CD3⁻CD49b⁺NK1.1⁺ cells. The proliferation of NK cells was determined measuring the intracellular expression of Ki-67 (a) and the activation status was measured by surface expression of CD69 (b). The maturation profile was determined by surface expression of KLRG1 (c), CD11b and CD27 (d). The effector functions of NK cells were analyzed by surface expression of TRAIL (e) and intracellular expression of GzmB (f). Effector phenotype of NK cells was analyzed on basis of IFN-γ (g). Individual percentages and mean (±SEM) values are indicated by dots and bars. At least 13 mice per FV-infected group from at least two independent experiments were studied. Statistically significant differences between groups were analyzed by using the unpaired student’s t or Mann–Whitney test and are indicated by single asterisk for p < 0.05, double asterisk for p < 0.01, triple asterisk for p < 0.001 and ns not significant.