IL17A and infection: Additionally, Kannan et al. reported that mice immunized with MPT64 (a Mav antigen)-expressing M. smegmatis ΔespG3 exhibited a significantly reduced Mav burden along with a large number of Mav-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells expressing IL-17, indicating that Th17 responses that are enhanced by Mav are also pivotal to the control of Mav infection [35].