Mycobacterium tuberculosis
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.
Bacterial InfectionsRetention of EsxA in the Capsule-Like Layer of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Is Associated with Cytotoxicity and Is Counteracted by Lung SurfactantMycobacterium tuberculosis, the pathogen that causes tuberculosis, primarily infects macrophages but withstands the host cell’s bactericidal effects. EsxA, also called virulence factor 6-kDa early secretory antigenic target (ESAT-6), is involved in phagosomal rupture and cell death.
Bacterial InfectionsMycobacterium tuberculosis Requires Regulation of ESX-5 Secretion for Virulence in Irgm1-Deficient MiceThe Mycobacterium tuberculosis type VII secretion system ESX-5, which has been implicated in virulence, is activated at the transcriptional level by the phosphate starvation-responsive Pst/SenX3-RegX3 signal transduction system. Deletion of pstA1, which encodes a Pst phosphate transporter component, causes constitutive activation of the response regulator...
Molecular PathogenesisPPE37 Is Essential for Mycobacterium tuberculosis Heme-Iron Acquisition (HIA), and a Defective PPE37 in Mycobacterium bovis BCG Prevents HIAMycobacterium tuberculosis, one of the world’s leading causes of death, must acquire nutrients, such as iron, from the host to multiply and cause disease. Iron is an essential metal and M. tuberculosis possesses two different systems to acquire iron from its environment: siderophore-mediated iron...
Microbial Immunity and VaccinesPreexisting Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Infection Increases Susceptibility to Tuberculosis in Mauritian Cynomolgus MacaquesTuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is the leading cause of death among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients. The precise mechanisms by which HIV impairs host resistance to a subsequent M. tuberculosis infection are unknown.