Figure 4

Antibody mediated blockade of integrin α4 prevents entry of Th1, but not Th17 cells or CD8 ⁺ T cells into the CNS. Wild type mice were sham immunized (PBS/CFA) or immunized with MVA/CFA followed by intrathecal VV challenge on day 10 after immunization. Control IgG or antibodies to integrin α4 (PS/2) were administered every other day starting one day prior to VV challenge. (A) Weight courses of VV challenged animals (n = 5 per group). (B, C) On day 4 after infection, CNS infiltrating mononuclear cells were isolated and the absolute number of CD4⁺ T helper cells and CD8⁺ CTLs as well as the cytokine phenotype of CD4⁺ T helper cells from the CNS were assessed based on intracellular staining for IFN-γ and IL-17. (B; numbers indicate percentages of CD4⁺ T cells in each quadrant; representative out of 5 independent experiments. The absolute numbers of T cells were compared by Student’s t test, n ≥ 3).