IMR Press / FBL / Volume 3 / Issue 5 / DOI: 10.2741/A286

Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.

Article
Host response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Show Less
1 Division of Infectious Diseases, Biomedical Research Building, 10th Floor West Administration, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OHIO 44106-4984
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 1998, 3(5), 133–140; https://doi.org/10.2741/A286
Published: 25 July 1998
Abstract

Critical to the complete expression of the virulence of M. tuberculosis and thereby its pathogenesis in human infection, is the ability of this pathogen to interact with the host in a specific manner. To date, cytokine circuits during tuberculosis and M. tuberculosis infection have been studied most intensely. With this regard, both the whole M. tuberculosis and its protein and non-protein moieties appear to be influential on the in situ cytokine profile, and consequently, to the final outcome of infection. The interplay and final balance of macrophage activating and immuno-enhancing cytokines versus macrophage deactivating and immunosuppressive cytokines most likely determines the final expression of M. tuberculosis infection. Further, cytokine circuits also underlie the immunopathology of tuberculosis. Modulation of the in vivo cytokine milieu may allow the development of more effective vaccines to prevent M. tuberculosis infection, and adjunctive immunotherapy to improve treatment of tuberculosis.

Share
Back to top