Blocking VIP-signaling enhanced synthesis of inflammatory cytokines following mCMV infection.

<p>VIP-KO mice, and WT mice treated with 7 daily s.c. injections of either VIPhyb or PBS and infected (day 0) with low dose mCMV. Four mice were euthanized each time-point at 0, 1, 1.7 (40 hrs), 2, 3, 7, 10 and 17 days following mCMV infection. The spleens were isolated and NK, NK-T, CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T-cell activation were analyzed by intracellular cytokine expression by flow cytometry. Serum cytokines were analyzed by the Luminex assay. (A) IFN-γ and TNF-α expression on activated CD4⁺ T-cells, and CD8⁺ T-cells from BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice following mCMV infection. Data (mean ± SD, n = 12) summarized from 3 replicated experiments. (B) IFN-γ and TNF-α expression on activated NK cells and NK-T cells from C57BL/6 mice following mCMV infection. (C) IFN-α, IFN-β, GM-CSF, IL-1α, IL-12p40, IL-13, VEGF and TGF-β levels in serum from C57BL/6 mice following mCMV infection. Data (mean ± SD, n = 10) summarized from 2 replicate experiments. *Denotes a significant difference compared with WT mice treated with PBS at that day, p<0.05; **denotes a significant difference compared with WT mice treated with PBS at that day, p<0.01; ***denotes a significant difference compared with WT mice treated with PBS at that day, p<0.001.