CXCL11 expressing C57BL/6 mice have intact adaptive immune responses to viral infection

The chemokine receptor CXCR3 is expressed on immune cells to co‐ordinate lymphocyte activation and migration. CXCR3 binds three chemokine ligands, CXCL9, CXCL10 and CXCL11. These ligands display distinct expression patterns and ligand signaling biases; however, how each ligand functions individually and collaboratively is incompletely understood. CXCL9 and CXCL10 are considered pro‐inflammatory chemokines during viral infection, while CXCL11 may induce a tolerizing state. The investigation of the individual role of CXCL11 in vivo has been hampered as C57BL/6 mice carry several mutations that result in a null allele. Here, CRISPR/Cas9 was used to correct these mutations on a C57BL/6 background. It was validated that CXCL11(KI) mice expressed CXCL11 protein in dendritic cells, spleen and lung. CXCL11(KI) mice were largely phenotypically indistinguishable from C57BL/6 mice, both at steady‐state and during two models of viral infection. While CXCL11 expression did not modify acute antiviral responses, this study provides a new tool to understand the role of CXCL11 in other experimental settings.