Application of a whole blood mycobacterial growth inhibition assay to study immunity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a high tuberculosis burden population
Fig 1
In vitro mycobacterial growth inhibition in M.tb-infected (QFT+) and uninfected (QFT-) individuals.
Inhibition of M.tb H37Rv growth by whole blood from QFT+ and QFT- adults (A), young adults (B) and children (C) assessed using a mycobacterial growth inhibition assay (MGIA). The growths of M. bovis BCG, M.tb H37Rv, M.tb isolate CDC1551 and M.tb isolate HN878 in the whole blood of adults (D) and young adults (E), respectively were compared. Spearman’s correlation analyses of the growth of different mycobacterial strains (F and G). The growth of BCG (H), HN878 and CDC1551 (I and J), was measured in the whole blood of adults and young adults, respectively. The red and blue circles represent QFT+ and QFT- individuals, respectively while the green and orange circles represent children and young adults respectively. The horizontal line represents the median, the boxes represent the interquartile range, and the whiskers represent the range. Differences in mycobacterial growth inhibition between both groups of individuals were evaluated with the Mann-Whitney test (shown P values).