The mechanisms and the molecular basis of the mycobacteria virulence remain obscure. However, recent findings provide evidences that, among the glycoconjugates which compose the mycobacterial envelope, lipoglycans including lipoarabinomannan, lipomannan and phosphatidyl-myo-inositol mannosides, are involved in the major steps of the tuberculosis immunopathogenesis. These steps are the mycobacterial phagocytosis process and the macrophage activation via the regulation of the production and secretion of cytokines.

In this article, we examine recent observations about comparative structural models of the lipoglycans from the pathogenic Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain, and the vaccinal M. bovis BCG strain, and finally avirulent mycobacteria strains. We also consider the role of the lipoglycans in the mycobacterial phagocytosis process and in the regulation of the macrophage microbicidal activity.