The ex vivo murine mycobacterial growth inhibition assay (MGIA) as a tool for simultaneous testing of tuberculosis vaccine candidates against multiple Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex strains

The murine lung mycobacterial growth inhibition assay (MGIA) has been developed as a tool to inform preclinical vaccine testing. The assay is able to model ex vivo control of mycobacteria by cells from BCG-vaccinated mice compared with unvaccinated. However, the mechanisms by which this control is mediated are unknown. The goal of this study was to compare the transcriptome of lung cells used as input in the MGIA from BCG-vaccinated mice versus lung cells from unvaccinated mice. C57Bl/6 mice were subcutaneously vaccinated with BCG Pasteur Aeras or unvaccinated. At six weeks post vaccination, lungs were digested and processed to generate single cell suspensions. RNA was extracted from 1x10^6 lung cells per mouse and sequenced.