Further, the similarity in expression of vimentin in heat-killed H37Rv infection and H37Ra infection is possibly due to the absence of ESAT-6 in both conditions; via heat-killing in the former and an attenuating mutation in the PhoP regulator of H37Ra which controls the secretion of ESAT-6 in the latter41 such that there is no secretion of ESAT-6. Here, VIM is linked to infection.