Fig. 5: Enrichment of Mtb-specific T_H17-like cells among RSTR.

a, Box plots showing the median and interquartile range of frequencies of RORC⁺TBX21⁺, RORC⁺TBX21⁻, RORC⁻TBX21⁺ and RORC⁻TBX21⁻ cells in ESAT6/CFP10-specific CD4⁺ T cells in RSTR (n = 3) and LTBI (n = 4) in the discovery household contact cohort using targeted transcriptomics. The whiskers represent minima and maxima. Statistical testing was not performed due to small sample sizes. b, SELECT-seq showing the mean expression of genes associated with T_H1 or T_H17 phenotypes from GO:0072539 in the MSigDB database in clonally expanded ESAT6/CFP10-specific CD4⁺ T cells within both RSTR and LTBI in the household contact cohort as in a. c, Expressions of T_H1 or T_H17 cell-associated genes in RSTR and LTBI in the household contact cohort, as shown in a. Significance was determined using two-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum tests with the Bonferroni method. ***Adjusted P value <0.001. d, Representative flow cytometry showing the expression of RORγt and T-bet in ESAT6/CFP10-specific CD4⁺ T cells from RSTR (n = 17) and LTBI participants (n = 20) in the validation household contact cohort. e, Frequencies of RORγ⁺T-bet⁺, RORγt⁺T-bet⁻, RORγt⁻T-bet⁺ and RORγt⁻T-bet⁻cells in ESAT6/CFP10-specific CD4⁺ T cells or Mtb lysate-specific CD4⁺ T cells from RSTRs and LTBI, as in d. f, Frequencies of IL-17A⁺ cells in ESAT6/CFP10-specific CD4⁺ T cells or Mtb lysate-specific CD4⁺ T cells from RSTRs and LTBI as in d. g, MFIs of IL-17A or IL-23 in supernatants of PBMC are shown after 24 h or 6 h stimulation, respectively, with Mtb lysate. Significance was determined by two-sided Student’s t-test. Significance in e and f was determined by two-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum tests.