Figure 3.

BCG vaccinated C57BL/6 mice, depleted of NK cells using anti-asialo GM1 antibody during infection and during the vaccination and infection periods, were able to significantly reduce the mycobacterial lung burden similar to isotype antibody-treated control mice (A). NK cell depletion was confirmed through flow cytometry 3 days after depletion (Supplementary Figure 1B). C57BL/6 mice were vaccinated subcutaneously with 5 × 10⁴ CFU BCG Pasteur, and then depleted of IFN-γ during infection at either days 1 to 15, or 15 to 30 post-infection had significantly reduced mycobacterial lung burdens, similar to isotype antibody-treated infected control mice (B). BCG vaccinated C57BL/6 mice, depleted of neutrophils during vaccination and up to 4 days post-vaccination, reduced their lung mycobacterial burden by ~0.5 Log₁₀ CFU compared to isotype antibody-treated infected control mice (C). Neutrophil depletion was confirmed through flow cytometry 3 days after depletion (Supplementary Figure 1A). BCG vaccinated C57BL/6 mice, depleted of neutrophils during vaccination, and up to 4 days post-vaccination, and NK cells from the time of infection, had reduced their mycobacterial lung burden by 0.5 Log₁₀ CFU compared to isotype antibody-treated infected control mice, which are able to reduce burden by 1 Log₁₀ CFU (D). N = 5 mice per group for all experiments with two iterations, *p ≤ 0.05 (T–test).