Fig. 7: Cytotoxicity and immunogenic properties of the nctA null mutant.

a, b A549 epithelial cells or macrophages were infected with the wild-type (WT), the nctA null mutant (∆nctA) or the nctA reconstituted isolate (nctA rec) for 24 h. Cytotoxicity of each mutant was evaluated by measuring the release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity into the culture medium. The data represent five different infection challenges with triplicate LDH activity measurements. Data are shown in fold change of LDH activity relative to the wild-type-infected cells. The error bars mean the standard error of the mean (SEM), and P-values were calculated by Kruskal–Wallis test with Dunn’s correction: *P < 0.0180; **P < 0.0056 (for a, A549 cells). **P < 0.0032; ***P < 0.0007 (for b, macrophages). c–f Granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor-induced bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (gm-csf BMDCs) were infected with the A. fumigatus strains with the multiplicity of infection (MOI) = 5:1. Proinflammatory cytokines were quantified by ELISA. Data represent three biological replicates (c–e) or five biological replicates (f) with ± SEM. P-values were calculated by ANOVA with Tukey’s correction: ***P < 0.002; ****P < 0.0001. g, h Activation of dendritic cells measured by CD40 and CD80 markers by flow cytometry. Data represent three biological replicates with ±SEM. P-values were calculated by ANOVA: ***P < 0.0002; ****P < 0.0001 (for g). ***P < 0.0004; ****P < 0.0001 (for h). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.