Polyfunctional analysis of VZV cultured NK cells.

PBMCs were mock cultured, exposed to VZV, or VZV infected for 2 days and stimulated as specified for flow cytometry analysis of NK cells (viable CD3^–CD56⁺ cells). (A) Degranulation (CD107a⁺) following stimulation with PMA and ionomycin (PMA/I). Graph shows specific degranulation with PMA/I stimulation for seven donors. Symbols represent individual donors, and grey columns indicate mean. ns = not significant (Friedman test with Dunn’s correction). (B) SPICE pie charts show the proportion of responses to different stimuli (listed left) based on combinations of detected CD69, CD107a, IFN-γ and TNF expression. Pie slices indicate the number of responses (0–4) (key, middle right). Arcs detail which markers were detected for each response (key, outer right). Data represent the means of three donors. (C) Histograms show CD69 expression for NK cells either unstimulated (above) or stimulated with PMA/I (below), for one representative donor (n = 6 donors).