Figure 4. Ag85B-specific immunogenicity induced by MTBVAC is not protective.

(a,b) Antigen-specific IFNγ production following stimulation with PPD (5 μg ml), ESAT6 (2 μg ml⁻¹), CFP10 (2 μg ml⁻¹) and Ag85B (2 μg ml⁻¹) during 48 h of splenocytes from mock-, MTBVAC- and MTBVACΔAg85B-vaccinated C57BL/6 (left) and C3H/HeNRj (right) mice. (c–e) Lung bacterial load 4 weeks post low-dose H37Rv intranasal challenge. C57BL/6 (c), BALB/c (d) and C3H/HeNRj (e) were vaccinated with BCG, MTBVAC, MTBVACΔAg85B or unvaccinated 8 weeks before challenge. (a,b) Data are representative from one of two independent experiments (n=5 mice per group per experiment). (c–e) Data are derived from n=6. All data are mean±s.e.m. (a,b) NS, non-significant; **P<0.01; ***P<0.001 by unpaired t-student test. (c–e) *P<0.05; **P<0.01; ***P<0.001 by one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post-test.