VZV infects both CD57^– and CD57^bright NK cells and drives CD57 expression.

<p>CD3^–CD56⁺CD57^– NK cells and CD3^–CD56⁺CD57^bright NK cells were isolated from healthy human donor PBMCs by FACS sorting and subsequently mock or VZV infected with or without IL-2 (200 U/ml) for 2 days before analysis by flow cytometry. (A) Diagram describes experimental design of isolating NK cells on CD57 expression, then infecting, and subsequently analysing for infection and phenotype changes. (B) Plots show surface VZV gE:gI expression between subsets from one representative donor. Graph shows frequency of VZV⁺ NK cell subsets when untreated or with IL-2 (shaded) for three donors. Bars indicate mean. (C) Plots show subsequent CD57 expression between mock, bystander and VZV⁺ CD57^– NK cells (left panels) and CD57 versus gE:gI expression for VZV cultured CD57^– NK cells (middle panels), from one representative donor. Graphs show frequency of CD57 expression on mock, bystander and VZV⁺ CD57^– NK cells for three donors. Bars indicate mean. *p < 0.05 (two-tailed paired t test). (D) Histograms show CD16 expression for mock, bystander and VZV⁺ CD57^– NK cells (left panel) and CD57^bright NK cells (right panel) for one representative donor (n = 3).