Fig. 2
CFP-10 and ESAT-6 proteins contain immune-enhancing peptides, which activate antigen-presenting cells in vitro. Synthetic peptides derived from CFP-10 and ESAT-6 proteins were tested for their ability to enhance Ag85B epitope presentation by BCG infected APCs to CD4 BB7 T cells in vitro. a, b Distinct peptide moieties of CFP-10 and ESAT-6 stimulate antigen presentation (1000 ng/mL = 0.5 µM). Values are pg/mL ± SD from triplicate wells. c–e The stimulatory peptides moieties derived from CFP-10 or ESAT-6 (each tested at indicates doses) were combined with BCG to infect APCs for assay of TH1 pro-inflammatory cytokines in the supernatants using ELISA. f Peptides of CFP-10 were resynthesized to map “C5” peptide which elicited maximal antigen presentation from MΦs. All peptides of this panel show an increase in antigen presentation (p < 0.009 vs. BCG alone). Peptides were tested at indicates doses and dotted line represents IL-2 levels of BB7 T cells overlaid on BCG infected MΦs (*p < 0.01, **p < 0.003 vs. BCG alone control for all panels; one-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s post test; one of two similar experiments shown for each panel)
