As reported for cancer cell lines using either inhibitor alone or in combination [19,35,38], we confirmed that the MCL-1 inhibitor S63845 and the BCL-2 inhibitor ABT-199 induced apoptosis in M.tb-infected MDMs, by assessing key hallmarks of apoptosis including caspase-3 and caspase-7 activity (Fig. 2C) and PARP and caspase-3 cleavage (Fig. 2D). This evidence concerns the gene BCL2 and cancer.