Intrahepatic accumulation and activation of COR93-specific CD8⁺ T cells in HBV transgenic mice.

2×10⁷ of spleen cells were isolated from BC10 TCR transgenic mice, and adoptively transferred into groups of 3–4 lineage 1.3.32 HBV transgenic mice and MUP-core 50 (MC50) transgenic mice. Lineage 1.3.32 replicates HBV and expresses HBcAg in their hepatocytes and secretes virus particles and HBeAg, a secreted viral protein that is highly cross-reactive with HBcAg. Lineage MC50 expresses only HBcAg under the mouse major urinary protein (MUP) promoter, and its expression is restricted to the hepatocytes. 1 hour after adoptive transfer of naïve COR93-specific CD8⁺ BC10 T cells, the mice were sacrificed and organs were harvested to analyze the frequency (A) and CD69 expression (B) of the transferred T cells in the liver, lymph nodes, and spleen. The data represent mean ± SD of three mice.