Fig. 1. CCR4 affects in a time-dependent way M. tuberculosis infection.

C57BL/6 (WT) and CCR4^−/− mice were infected with 1 × 10⁵ M. tuberculosis bacilli by the intra-tracheal route or left non-infected. Bacillus recovery from lungs a and spleens b of WT (white circles) and CCR4^−/− (black circles) mice at 15, 30 and 70 days of infection (dpi). Data are representative of one experiment reproduced three times (n = 3–9), expressed as the mean ± SEM. The lungs of non-infected (white squares) and infected (gray circles) mice, at 70 days of infection, were collected. CCR4 gene expression c, CCL17 d and CCL22 e levels were evaluated in lung homogenates. Data are representative of two-independent experiments (n = 7–20) expressed as the mean ± SEM. Symbols represent individual animals and bars show the difference (P < 0.05) between the groups