Analysis of cellular immune responses.

<p>Female BALB/c mice (n = 5) were immunized once with VSV*ΔG(MUL2232) (i.m.) and boosted with rMUL2232 (s.c., prime-boost) or were immunized with VSV*ΔG (i.m.) and boosted with rMUL2232 (s.c., prime-boost control). Alternatively, the animals were immunized twice with either VSV*ΔG(MUL2232) (2 x VRP) or the control vector VSV*ΔG (2 x empty VRP). Three weeks after the final immunization, mice were euthanized. Spleen cells were taken into culture and stimulated with either Concanavalin A (ConA), rMUL2232, rMUL3720 or left unstimulated (medium). Levels of secreted cytokines were determined by commercially available ELISA kits at 24 hours (IL-2, B) and 96 hours (IFNγ, A; IL-10, C) after stimulation. Mean values (bar) ± standard deviations for 5 mice tested are shown and expressed as log₁₀ (pg/ml). * <i>p</i> ≤ 0.05; ** <i>p</i> ≤ 0.01; *** <i>p</i> ≤ 0.001; **** <i>p</i> ≤ 0.0001 (<i>p</i>–value adjusted for random effects in a linear mixed model). Ns equals non-significance. # Due to high non-specific rMUL3720 stimulation presumably caused by contaminants in the recombinant protein preparation, values were normalized to those of a non-immunized group of mice and z-values are depicted for all stimulations except ConA.