Murine Models of Viral Immune Responses

C57BL/6 wild-type mice were commercially obtained (Jackson Laboratories, Bar Harbor, ME). IFN-αβ receptor (IFN-αβR)^−/− congenic C57BL/6 mice were the kind gift of J. Sprent (La Jolla, CA). The congenic backcrossed IRF-3^−/−[37] (link), IRF-5^−/−[41] (link), and IRF-7^−/−[14] (link) mice were the kind gift of T. Taniguchi (Tokyo, Japan) and provided generously by colleagues in the United States (I. Rifkin, Boston, MA and K. Fitzgerald, Worcester, MA). The IRF-1^−/− mice were obtained commercially (Jackson Laboratories). The IRF-8^−/− mDC were obtained from bone marrow of IRF-8^−/− mice [36] (link) and were a generous gift of P. Tailor and K. Ozato (Bethesda, MD). The TRAF3^−/− and TRAF6^−/− MEF were kindly provided by G. Cheng (UCLA, Los Angeles, CA) and T. Mak (University of Toronto, Canada), respectively. The TBK1 MEF were obtained from B. TenOever (Mount Sinai Hospital, NY). IRF-3^−/−× IRF-7^−/− DKO mice were generated after large-scale crossing and recombination in the F1 generation because of the 1 cM linkage of the two loci. DKO mice were genotyped and bred in the animal facilities of the Washington University School of Medicine, and experiments were performed with approval of the Washington University Animal Studies Committee. Eight to twelve week-old age-matched mice were used for all in vivo studies. 10² PFU of WNV was diluted in Hanks balanced salt solution (HBSS) supplemented with 1% heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum (FBS) and inoculated by footpad injection in a volume of 50 µl.