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. 2013 Aug 15;9(8):e1003501. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003501

Figure 1. Intermittent Picostim/IL-2 administration during early pulmonary Mtb infection induced major expansion of Vγ2Vδ2 T cells and accumulation of them in pulmonary compartment, and led to reduction in Mtb bacterial burdens in lungs.

Figure 1

(a) Representative flow histograms of percentages of Vγ2Vδ2 T cells gated on CD3(left) at day 1 postinfection (day 4 after 1st treatment) and graph data (right) of absolute numbers of Vγ2Vδ2 T cells over time after treatments, respectively, in the blood. Percentages of Vγ2Vδ2 T cells in CD3 T cells are indicated in right upper quadruples. Graph data are means with SEM from nine macaques/per group. Vertical arrows denote the times for treatment. **p<0.01, *p<0.05, by both parametric and nonparametric analyses. (b) BAL fluid (BALF) data in a similar fashion as (a), except that flow data are on day 8 post infection(day 11 after treatments) and that numbers in graphs (right) are percentages of Vγ2Vδ2 T cells(n = 9 for each group). Increases in Vγ2Vδ2 T cells in BALF consist with accumulation of them in lung tissues of phosphoantigen/IL-2-treated macaques ([14] and data not shown). The data suggest changes in Vγ2Vδ2 T cells in the airway of the pulmonary compartment, not precisely in lung tissues. Please see Fig. S3c in Text S1 for immunohistocheminstry in situ analysis of γδ T cells in lung parenchyma and granulomatous tissues). (c) Mean CFU counts of bacilli in lung tissue homogenates of different lung lobes collected at the end point (at day 65) from Picostim/IL-2-treated and control groups. Lung tissue homogenates generated from each lobe was serially diluted and used for CFU enumeration(CFU/ml homogenates). **p<0.01, *p<0.05, respectively, by parametric and nonparametric comparisons between Picostim/IL-2-treated and control groups(n = 9/group). Data from control groups [22] were shown here again to prove the concept that phosphoantigen/IL2 expansion of Vγ2Vδ2 T cells can more apparently limit Mtb growth compared to saline/BSA and IL2 alone controls as all groups were evaluated simultaneously.