Human T Cell and Antibody-Mediated Responses to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Recombinant 85A, 85B, and ESAT-6 Antigens
Figure 4
Individual IFN-γ (a), TNF-α (b), and IL-10 (c) production in response to recombinant Ag85A, Ag85B, and ESAT-6. Freshly isolated PBMC from non-infected individuals (NI), pulmonary TB patients (P), pulmonary TB patients in treatment (PT), and extra-pulmonary TB (EP) were cultured in the presence of Ag85A (25 μg/ml), Ag85B (25 μg/ml), PPD (25 μg/ml), or ESAT6 (50 μg/ml). Supernatants were harvested after five days and the cytokines measured by ELISA. Horizontal bars represent mean values. Differences between responses from TB patient groups and control groups were analyzed with nonparametric Kruskall-Wallis test. *Statistically significant differences in relation to NI group, (δ) in relation to EP group, and (#) in relation to P group ().
