Global gene expression in response to West Nile virus in mouse spleen and liver

Purpose of this experiment was to further understand how innate immune defenses impact host response and West Nile virus tissue tropism. This study examined host-transcriptional response to West Nile virus in permissive and nonpermissive tissues using wildtype mice and mice with genetically altered interferon signaling pathways. Age-matched six to twelve week old mice were inoculated subcutaneously in the left rear footpad with 100 PFU of West Nile virus isolate TX 2002-HC (WNV-TX) in a 10 microL inoculum diluted in Hanks balanced salt solution (HBSS) supplemented with 1% heat-inactivated FBS. Mice were monitored daily for morbidity and mortality. Expression oligonucleotide arrays were performed on RNA isolated from spleen and liver tissues from strain and time-matched mock infected mice (n=2) and WNV-TX infected wild type (WT; n=3; day 4 post-infection), Ips-1-/-(n=3; day 4 post-infection), Ifnar-/- (n=3; day 2 post-infection), and Ips-1-/-xIfnar-/- (DKO; n=3; day 4 post-infection) mice.