*2.4. Animals*

All mice were housed in compliance with the NIH, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Wistar Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Six-to-eightweek-old female C57BL/6 mice were purchased from Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor, ME, USA). Six-to-eight-week-old female BALB/c mice were purchased from Charles River Laboratory (Wilmington, MA, USA). Five-to-six-week-old male and female Interferon-alpha/beta receptor (IFNAR)−/<sup>−</sup> mice from the Mutant Mouse Resource and Research Center (MMRRC) repository–Jackson Laboratory were also housed and treated in accordance to the above parties.
