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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Apr 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Immunol. 2018 Feb 16;200(7):2405–2417. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1701073

FIGURE 2. IL-12+IL-18 co-treatment in human monocyte-derived macrophages consistently inhibited intracellular growth of virulent Mtb H37Rv.

FIGURE 2

(A)Shown are mean Survival index for intracellular growth inhibition of Mtb H37Rv strain in hMDM. Mtb-infected hMDM cells were treated with IL-12+IL-18 or media for 3 days. Viable bacteria recovered from infected cells were quantified by counting CFU. Data are pooled from two independent experiments using cells from 8 healthy uninfected donors. P values are calculated through non-parametric t-test, * p < 0.05. (B) The IL-12+IL-18 co-signaling decreased the number of intracellular Mtb H37Rv bacilli in hMDM cells at both day 3 and day 6. hMDM were infected with H37Rv, and then cultured for 3-6 days in the presence of 50 ng/ml recombinant human IL-12+IL-18 or media. Data are pooled from two independent experiments from 8 uninfected donors. P values are calculated through non-parametric t-test, * p < 0.05. Individual cytokines alone were not found to inhibit the growth of BCG (Fig.1), thus were not evaluated here. Attenuated BCG may be similarly inhibited as does Mtb in IL12+IL18-treated hMDM cells (Figs.1D-1E). Presumably, at day 6 BCG may be restricted similarly to Mtb in IL12+IL18-stimulated hMDM cells. (C) shows mean fold changes in expression levels for CAMP, DEFB4A and IFNG in H37Rv-infected hMDM, respectively, in the presence of media or IL-12+IL-18. Data are derived from 2 independent experiments using hMDM derived from 8 healthy uninfected donors. P values are calculated through T test compared with control condition: treated with culture media, * p<0.05, *** p< 0.001.