Figure 2
From: Regulatory T cells are essential to promote proper CD4 T-cell priming upon mucosal infection
Absence of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in the postpriming phase does not diminish the antigen-specific CD4 T-cell accumulation in the vagina. Mice were depleted of Tregs at (a) days −2, −1, and +1 or at (b, c) days +3 and +4 relative to the day of infection. Alternatively, Treg-sufficient mice were injected with phosphate-buffered saline instead of diphtheria toxin (DT). Mice were infected intravaginally with 1.88 × 105 plaque-forming units of herpes simplex virus-2 186ΔKpn, whereas naive groups were left uninfected. (a) The fraction of gDT-II cells in the blood as a percentage of total blood lymphocytes 6 days after infection when Tregs were depleted prior to infection. (b) The fraction of gDT-II cells in the blood as a percentage of total blood lymphocytes 6 days after infection when Tregs were depleted during the postpriming, migration phase of the immune response. (c) The number of gDT-II cells recovered from the vaginal tracts of mice 6 days after infection when Tregs were depleted during the postpriming, migration phase of the immune response. All data come from or are representative of at least two independent experiments with 4–5 mice in each group. Each data set was first screened for outliers using the ROUT test with a Q value of 0.2%. Statistical significance was then determined using an ordinary one-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey’s test to compare the mean of each group with the mean of all other groups. *P⩽0.05, **P⩽0.01, ****P⩽0.0001. Error bars show s.d. NS, not significant.
