Figure 10.

Adoptive transfer of airway-resident T cell populations confers protection against TB. (A) T cell subsets were isolated 4–5 weeks following MIP i.n. vaccination and sorted by magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS). The sorted T cell population purity was assessed as 90–95% (Figure S3). 5 × 10⁴ sorted cells were transferred intratracheally into naive C57Bl/6 mice. One day after the transplant, recipient mice were challenged with M.tb and lung CFU counts were determined 30 days later. (B) Bacterial CFU counts in lungs after 30 days. (C) Status of T-cells, macrophages and (D) DCs in lung airways 30 days post-infection following the intratracheal transfer of sorted CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T-cells from “MIP i.n.” immunized animals. Data are mean ± SEM and analysis for all the above data was done using one-way ANOVA with Tukey's correction for multiple comparisons. *p ≤ 0.001 and ****p ≤ 0.0001 (N = 2, 4 mice/group/experiment). N, number of experiments.