Figure 2.

Virulence of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) strain modulates the expression of antigen-presenting molecules on CD3⁺TCRαβ⁺ and CD3⁺TCRαβ⁻ monocyte-derived macrophage (MDM) subpopulations. After 7 days in culture, 2 × 10⁶ MDMs (per condition) were infected, and at 24 h post-infection, they were recovered for flow cytometric analysis. Frequency of Mtb-infected MDM subpopulations expressing CD1b (A), CD1c (B), and HLA-II (C) molecules. Bar graphs show median values and interquartile ranges (IQRs, 10–90) from four independent experiments. Kruskal–Wallis tests followed by Dunn’s post-tests were performed to compare macrophage subpopulations under the same MOI conditions versus CD3⁻ MDM subpopulation, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001, and to compare the infected macrophage subpopulation versus its counterpart under uninfected conditions, • p < 0.05, •• p < 0.01.