Comparing the primary and secondary CTL responses in naïve and Ck/HK/TP38(H9N2)-primed mice challenged with the H7N9 virus.

<p>The mice were challenged with 10^3.5 TCID₅₀ H7N9 virus (1 MLD₅₀). (A) The virus titer in the lung and (B) proportion and (C) number of each epitope-specific CTL population and (D) the combined total number of three epitope-specific CTL populations in the BAL (data represent mean ± SEM, n = 4–5 at each time point). (A, D) * p<0.05, t test, primed <i>versus</i> naïve group. (B, C) * p<0.05, Tukey’s test, the indicated epitope <i>versus</i> the other two epitopes. (E) Representative flow cytometry plots for each tetramer-specific CTL population in the BAL. The tetramers used were specific to the epitope variants of the H7N9 virus.