Fig. 4. Ir-Cm (+MDP) enhances bacterial clearance from the genital tract in a murine vaccination/challenge model.

Mice vaccinated with Ir-Cm (+/− MDP), administered adjuvant (CpG) alone, PBS (Naïve), or pre-exposed to Cm infection (Cm) were challenged with live Cm 1 month after the final immunization. % infected over time (a), average number of IFU/mL vaginal swab suspension over time (b), and overall infectious burden calculated from an Area Under the Curve (AUC) analysis (c) are shown. Combined data from two separate experiments are shown, each of which tested 10 BALB/C mice/group. (data from each separate experiment are presented in Supplementary Fig. 8). Kaplan–Meier curves were analyzed by the Mantel–Cox test to compare differences in the percentage of culture-positive mice over time. The complete results of the Mantel–Cox test are presented in Supplementary Table 1. Differences in the average (Log10) IFU recovered were assessed utilizing a two-way ANOVA with multiple comparisons. For AUC, groups were compared utilizing a Kruskal–Wallis test with multiple comparisons, and statistical significance readouts are shown for comparisons to the group of mice that was pre-exposed to Cm (positive control). ****p < 0.0001, ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05, ns not significant, LOD limit of detection.