Fig. 6: The timeline of immunization and overall in vivo work through the terminal point on day 54.

Schematic illustration of mice immunization, sample collection, and B. cenocepacia challenge is shown. Five groups of female BALB/c mice (14 mice/group) were subcutaneously (sc) prime-vaccinated with 6x-His-LY-CS:P NPs, 6x-His-KT-CS:P NPs, or 6x-His-BD-CS:P NPs, and with PBS or adjuvant as their respective controls. Mice (n = 14/group) were intranasally (in) boosted twice on days 14 and 28. On day 42, sera, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), and spleens were collected from 7 mice/ group. On day 49, the remaining mice (n = 7/group) were infected intranasally with approximately 1 × 108 colony-forming units (CFUs) of B. cenocepacia. Five days post-infection, lungs were harvested, homogenized, serially diluted, and spread on LB agar plates to determine the bacterial load. The diagram is generated using BioRender (license number JI27JQG39D).