Fig 5. S. aureus-specific IL-17A and IFN-γ responses elicited by splenocyte proliferation of immunized mice.

The six groups of mice shown in (A) and (B) are defined in the Materials and Methods section and the immunization schedule is shown in Fig 1. Immunized mice were sacrificed 10 days after the second (boost) immunization, and splenocytes were prepared and stimulated with the heat-inactivated S. aureus ΔvraGΔhemB SCV for 60 h in RPMI medium. Cells were centrifuged and supernatants were collected. IL-17A (A) and IFN-γ (B) concentrations from cell culture medium quantified by sandwich ELISA and compared to standard curves of recombinant cytokines. Data are expressed as means ± standard errors and statistical differences with the PBS-immunized control mice are shown (Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA with Dunn’s multiple comparison test: **P ≤ 0.005; *P ≤ 0.05).