Fig. 2: Blocking of early IFN-γ/IL-12 signals further promotes resistance to H. polygyrus infection in BALB/c mice.

a Experimental setup: BALB/c mice were infected with H. polygyrus at the age of 1.5 months and treated with blocking antibodies against IL-12 and IFN-γ (0.5 mg each) at days 0, 3 and 6 post infection. Mice were dissected at day 14 post infection. Graphs report the frequencies of Th2/1 hybrid and Th2 cells (mean ± SD) determined in CD4+ cells in peripheral blood on day 0, 7 and 14. Data from three independent experiments are pooled. n naive = 2; Hp ctr = 11; αIFN-γ/αIL-12 = 10 mice. Samples with low PBMC counts were excluded. b Representative flow cytometry plots of T-bet and GATA-3 expression in siLP-derived CD4+ FoxP3− T cells isolated on day 14 post infection. Graphs depict the frequencies of Th2/1, Th2 and Th1 cells in CD4+ FoxP3− cells. Data from three independent experiments are pooled (n naïve = 3; Hp ctr = 10; αIFN-γ/αIL-12 = 9 mice). Samples with poor viability were excluded. c Fecal egg counts determined over the course of infection expressed as mean ± SD. Data derive from one out of three experiments with similar results (n Hp ctr = 4; αIFN-γ/αIL-12 = 6 mice). d Circles depict the mean egg production of 8 individual female worms per mouse within 24 h of culture. Data derive from one out of three independent experiments (n Hp ctr = 4; αIFN-γ/αIL-12 = 6 mice). e Adult worm burden at day 14 post infection. Data from two independent experiments are pooled (n Hp ctr = 8; αIFN-γ/αIL-12 = 7 mice). Bars in b, d and e report the mean, circles represent individual mice. Statistical analysis was performed using unpaired t test or Mann–Whitney test in a, c, and d and one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test or Kruskal–Wallis test with Dunn’s multiple comparisons test in b. *p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤ 0.01, ***p ≤ 0.001, ****p ≤ 0.0001.