Fig. 6: BCG-specific Th17 cells induced by BCG+H107e coadministration expand following challenge.

Post-challenge lung responses in mice at week 4 post Mtb challenge. a Proportion of antigen-specific CD4 T cells (defined by expression of IFN-γ, TNF, IL-2, and/or IL-17A) expressing IL-17 after TB10.4 restimulation from mice analyzed at week 4 post Mtb infection. Box plots with median ± IQR and whiskers showing range of responses. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test, n = 5–8. Proportion of antigen-specific CD4 T cells (defined by expression of IFN-γ, TNF, IL-2, and/or IL-17A) being IL-17 + IFN-γ- (b), IL-17 + IFN-γ+ (c) IL-17-IFN-γ + (d) after TB10.4 restimulation from mice analyzed at week 4 post Mtb infection. Box plots with median ± IQR and whiskers showing range of responses. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test, n = 5–8. e Representative plots from indicated vaccine groups at week 4 post Mtb showing identification of antigen-specific lung CD44^hi CD4 T cells by virtue of I-A^d:TB10.4_73–88 MHC II tetramers (upper panels). Lower panels show frequencies of RORγt expressing cells among the TB10.4 Tetramer-positive T cells. Box plots showing the frequency of I-A^d:TB10.4_73–88 specific cells being RORγt⁺Tbet^- (f), RORγt⁺Tbet⁺ (g), and RORγt^-Tbet⁺ (h). Data are shown as medians ± IQR with whiskers depicting range of responses. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison test, n = 5–8. i Pie charts show the distribution of transcription factor expression among TB10.4 specific cells and illustrate the proportion of I-A^d:TB10.4_73–88 cells being either RORγt^-Tbet⁺ (white pies), RORγt⁺Tbet⁺ (gray pies) or RORγt⁺Tbet^-.