Table 1– Pulmonary granulomatosis in mice immunised with heat-killed Propionibacterium acnes and dendritic cells (DCs)

Method of immunisation	Experiment	Granulomas	Size μm²
*P. acnes* + IFA
	1	5	2880±1731
	2	4	2137±1132
	3	2	1800±1272
	Total	3.6±1.5	2413±1426
*P. acnes* + immature DCs
	1	22	5195±4l72
	2	9	2025±1153
	3	8	3318±2054
	Total	13±7.8	4132±3933
Mature DCs pulsed with *P. acnes*
	1	32	7980±8941
	2	21	7682±6999
	3	21	8207±4693
	Total	24.7±6.3*	7960±7311*

Data are presented as n or mean±sd. Mice were subcutaneously immunized twice with 1 mg of heat-killed Propionibacterium acnes at a 2-week interval. 2 weeks after the second immunisation, mice were challenged intravenously with heat-killed P. acnes (1 mg). The heat-killed P. acnes was administered with or without incomplete Freund’s adjuvant (IFA), immature or mature DCs (10⁶ cells). Mature DCs were generated by pulsing with heat-killed P. acnes (100 μg·mL⁻¹) for 24 h before their injection into mice. 7 days after the challenge, mice were sacrificed, and haematoxylin and eosin staining was performed on sections of the lungs. The granulomatosis was evaluated by measuring the number and size of granulomas in the lungs. Similar results were obtained in three separate experiments. *: p<0.05 versus P. acnes plus IFA group.