IL-22 is protective against this hypervirulent strain Mtb HN878 in mice (Treerat et al., 2017) and reduces the severity of lung inflammation and neutrophil-mediated lung epithelial cell injury by inducing the expression of anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl2 and Mcl1 and enhancing the production of antimicrobial peptides (Tripathi et al., 2019). This evidence concerns the gene IL22 and inflammation.