MCMV activates Ly49H<sup>+</sup> NK cells and expands Ag-specific CD8<sup>+</sup> T cells from Siglec-H<sup>−/−</sup> and wt mice with similar viral clearance in the primary and secondary organs.
<p>Siglec-H<sup>−/−</sup> and wt chimeric mice were infected with 5×10<sup>4</sup> PFU of wt MCMV or mock treated with PBS. (<b>A, B</b>) IFNγ serum concentrations were determined at 36 h p.i. and the MFI of CD69 expression on NK1.1<sup>+</sup> blood NK cells was quantified by flow cytometry. (<b>C, D</b>) Representative histogram overlays and quantification of KLRG-1 expression on splenic NK1.1<sup>+</sup> Ly49H<sup>+</sup> cells at day 8 p.i. (<b>E</b>) Representative FACS plots for H-2D<sup>b</sup> M45 tetramer staining and CD62L expression among CD8<sup>+</sup> splenocytes. (<b>F, G</b>) Quantification of frequencies and absolute numbers of tetramer<sup>+</sup> CD8<sup>+</sup> T cells from the tetramer staining shown in (E). (<b>H</b>) Shows frequencies of IFNγ<sup>+</sup> cells among CD8<sup>+</sup> T cells after restimulation with the indicated concentrations of H-2D<sup>b</sup> M45 peptide. (<b>I</b>) Viral load was measured in the spleen, liver and salivary glands of MCMV infected Siglec-H<sup>−/−</sup> and wt mice at day 3, 6 and 8 p.i. Dashed line indicates the limit of detection. Data shown are pooled from 2–3 individual experiments. **<i>p</i><0.01 Students t-test, ns = not significant, nd = not detectable.</p