Fig. 4

Adoptive transfer of MAIT cells delays mortality in Rag2^−/−γC^−/− mice with IAV infection. a Schematic of protocol: 3 × 10⁵ pulmonary MAIT cells from C57BL/6 mice (previously infected with 10⁶ CFU S. Typhimurium BRD509 for 7 days to expand the MAIT cell population) were sorted and transferred intravenously into Rag2^−/−γC^−/− mice, followed by intraperitoneal anti-CD4 and anti-CD8 antibody injection (0.1 mg each) twice within 1 week to deplete any residual conventional T cells included in the transfer. After 2 weeks, mice were infected i.n. with 25 PFU of PR8 (b+c) or 500 PFU of X-31 (d+e). b Body weight loss expressed as a percentage (showing mean ± SEM and individual values for all mice), and c survival after infection with 25 PFU PR8 virus. Survival curves compared using log-rank (Mantel–Cox) tests. d Body weight loss expressed as a percentage (mean ± SEM), after infection with 500 PFU X-31 virus. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 denotes significant differences between weights using ANOVA and post hoc Dunnett’s comparing against non-transferred Rag2^−/−γC^−/− mice. e Survival curves after infection with 500 PFU of X-31 were compared using log-rank (Mantel–Cox) tests (P = 0.02) and Gehan–Breslow–Wilcoxon tests (P = 0.006) between WT MAIT and non-transferred Rag2^−/−γC^−/− mice. Other differences were not significant. Data represent combined data from two (b, c) or three (d, e) experiments with similar results