Figure 1

B. anthracis spore infection enhances TLR9 and TNF-α expression in RAW264.7 cells. (A) Cells were infected with B. anthracis spores (MOI of 10) prepared from B. anthracis strain ATCC 14578 for the indicated times. At the end of the infection periods, total RNA was prepared, and TLR9 expression was analyzed using real-time RT-PCR. (B) RAW264.7 cells were infected with increasing numbers of B. anthracis spores (MOI of 1, 3, 10, or 30). TNF-α protein (bars) was analyzed by ELISA 8 h after infection; TNF-α mRNA (line) expression was analyzed by real-time RT-PCR 2 h after infection. (C) Cells were pretreated with ODN2088 for 1 h and then infected with B. anthracis spores (MOI of 10) for a further 5 h. At the end of the incubation period, culture supernatants were collected and subjected to ELISA. *P <0.05 as compared with the untreated control group (−).