We did not observe reduced Ifnb1 mRNA expression in blood, however, IFN-β concentrations were significantly reduced in lungs of pre-diabetic mice at 8 weeks p.i. A HFD-based model of T2D and TB recently demonstrated moderately higher Mtb burden in the early stages of infection at 2 weeks, but not during late infection, and reduced IFN-γ production in HFD-fed diabetic mice (Alim et al., 2020), which is consistent with our data in this pre-diabetes model. This evidence concerns the gene IFNB1 and infection.