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. 2020 Feb 24;9:e52668. doi: 10.7554/eLife.52668

Figure 6. TNF-α is expressed in human TB granulomas and sputum TNF-α concentrations negatively correlate with circulating PD-1 expression.

Figure 6.

(A) TNF-α is expressed within human lung TB granulomas, with greater immunoreactivity than control lung tissue at the excision margin of lung cancer (i and ii). Quantification of TNF-α immunostaining (n = 5) in TB cases was significantly higher than controls (n = 5) (iii). (B) TNF-α immunostaining was extensive in the lung granuloma of a patient that developed TB whilst treated with pembrolizumab, a humanized anti-PD-1 antibody (n = 1). (C) CD4+ T cell PD-1 expression on circulating PBMC negatively correlates with sputum TNF-α concentration in a separate cohort where paired sputum and PBMCs samples are available. Green dots, healthy controls; Black TB cases; Orange respiratory symptomatics. Analysis by Spearman’s correlation analysis gave r-value of −0.341 with p=0.0484.