Figure 4

HCL2 peptide expressed in M. tuberculosis H37Rv reduces bacterial burden and activates T-cells. (A) Bacterial burden in lungs at day 16 in H37Rv, ΔRD1 and H37Rv/HCL2 infected mice (*p < 0.05). Data shown here is a representative of two independent experiments. Each CFU experiment has been carried out in triplicates (6 mice per experiment). (B) Enhanced T cell proliferation in response to M. tuberculosis bacterial protein lysate (Complete Soluble Antigen) (*p < 0.05). (C) T cell proliferation in vivo by Brdu incorporation. Data shown here is representative of three independent experiments with six mice in each group and represents the mean ± STDEV values. (D) The percentage of cells expressing CD44 and CD69 among CD4⁺ T cells is shown in the dot-plot with mean ± STDEV. CD44 and CD69 expression by CD4⁺ splenocytes was also found to be significantly higher in H37Rv/HCL2 infected mice than H37Rv infected mice. Data shown here are representative of three independent experiments with six mice in each group.