Mycobacterium tuberculosis
MinireviewAbundant Monovalent Ions as Environmental Signposts for Pathogens during Host ColonizationHost colonization by a pathogen requires proper sensing and response to local environmental cues, to ensure adaptation and continued survival within the host. The ionic milieu represents a critical potential source of environmental cues, and indeed, there has been extensive study of the interplay between host and pathogen in the context of metals such as iron, zinc, and manganese, vital ions that are actively sequestered by the host....
MinireviewMitochondria: Powering the Innate Immune Response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis InfectionWithin the last decade, we have learned that damaged mitochondria activate many of the same innate immune pathways that evolved to sense and respond to intracellular pathogens. These shared responses include cytosolic nucleic acid-sensing and type I interferon (IFN) expression, inflammasome activation that leads to pyroptosis, and selective autophagy (called mitophagy when mitochondria are the cargo).
Microbial Immunity and VaccinesSystematic Evaluation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Proteins for Antigenic Properties Identifies Rv1485 and Rv1705c as Potential Protective Subunit Vaccine CandidatesThe lack of efficacious vaccines against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection is a limiting factor in the prevention and control of tuberculosis (TB), the leading cause of death from an infectious agent. Improvement or replacement of the BCG vaccine with one that reliably protects all age groups is urgent.
Cellular Microbiology: Pathogen-Host Cell Molecular InteractionsIdentification of Autophagy-Inhibiting Factors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by High-Throughput Loss-of-Function ScreeningThe interaction of host cells with mycobacteria is complex and can lead to multiple outcomes ranging from bacterial clearance to progressive or latent infection. Autophagy is recognized as one component of host cell responses that has an essential role in innate and adaptive immunity to intracellular bacteria. Many microbes, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, have...
MinireviewFighting Persistence: How Chronic Infections with Mycobacterium tuberculosis Evade T Cell-Mediated Clearance and New Strategies To Defeat ThemChronic bacterial infections are caused by pathogens that persist within their hosts and avoid clearance by the immune system. Treatment and/or detection of such pathogens is difficult, and the resulting pathologies are often deleterious or fatal. There is an urgent need to develop protective vaccines and host-directed therapies that synergize with antibiotics to prevent pathogen persistence and infection-associated pathologies. However...
Molecular PathogenesisThe ESX-1 Virulence Factors Downregulate miR-147-3p in Mycobacterium marinum-Infected MacrophagesAs important virulence factors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, EsxA and EsxB not only play a role in phagosome rupture and M. tuberculosis cytosolic translocation but also function as modulators of host immune responses by modulating numerous microRNAs (miRNAs). Recently, we have found that...
MinireviewUnraveling the Role of MicroRNAs in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection and Disease: Advances and PitfallsTuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease of extremely high epidemiological burden worldwide that is easily acquired through the inhalation of infected respiratory droplets. The complex pathogenesis of this infection spans from subjects never developing this disease despite intense exposure, to others in which immune containment fails catastrophically and severe or disseminated forms of disease ensue.
Bacterial InfectionsMycobacterium tuberculosis LipE Has a Lipase/Esterase Activity and Is Important for Intracellular Growth and In Vivo InfectionMycobacterium tuberculosis Rv3775 (LipE) was annotated as a putative lipase. However, its lipase activity has never been characterized, and its precise role in tuberculosis (TB) pathogenesis has not been thoroughly studied to date. We overexpressed and purified the recombinant LipE (rLipE) protein and demonstrated that LipE has a lipase/esterase activity. rLipE...
Microbial Immunity and VaccinesCurcumin Nanoparticles Enhance Mycobacterium bovis BCG Vaccine Efficacy by Modulating Host Immune ResponsesTuberculosis (TB) is one of the deadliest diseases, causing ∼2 million deaths annually worldwide. Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), the only TB vaccine in common use, is effective against disseminated and meningeal TB in young children but is not effective against adult pulmonary TB.
Host Response and InflammationToll-like Receptor 2 Prevents Neutrophil-Driven Immunopathology during Infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis by Curtailing CXCL5 ProductionThe W-Beijing strain family is globally distributed and is associated with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) and treatment failure. Therefore, in this study, we examined the contribution of Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) to host resistance against Mycobacterium tuberculosis HN878, a clinical isolate belonging to the W-Beijing family.