introduction: infections by multidrug resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis (mdr-tb) is a major public health challenge. secretion of proteins by m. tuberculosis plays an important role in the pathogenesis of the bacterium. we compared the protein profiles of susceptible m. tuberculosis and mdr-tb isolates using proteomic analyses, namely two dimensional gel electrophoresis (2de) and mass spectr...

The identification of easily measured, accurate diagnostic biomarkers for active tuberculosis (TB) will have a significant impact on global TB control efforts. Because of the host and pathogen complexities involved in TB pathogenesis, identifying a single biomarker that is adequately sensitive and specific continues to be a major hurdle. Our previous studies in models of TB demonstrated that ex...

Protein-based vaccine development faces the difficult challenge of finding robust yet non-toxic adjuvants suitable for humans. Here, using a molecular engineering approach, we have developed a molecular platform for generating self-adjuvanting immunogens that do not depend on exogenous adjuvants for induction of immune responses. These are based on the concept of Immune Complex Mimics (ICM), st...

Two billion people are latently infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Mtb-infected macrophages are likely to be sequestered inside the hypoxic environments of the granuloma and differentiate into lipid-loaded macrophages that contain triacylglycerol (TAG)-filled lipid droplets which may provide a fatty acid-rich host environment for Mtb. We report here that human peripheral blood mono...

Protein subunit vaccines present a compelling new area of research for control of tuberculosis (TB). Based on the interaction between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its host, five stage-specific antigens of M. tuberculosis that participate in TB pathogenesis--Rv1813, Rv2660c, Ag85B, Rv2623, and HspX--were selected. These antigens were verified to be recognized by T cells from a total of 42 whol...

BACKGROUND The DevR(DosR) regulon is implicated in hypoxic adaptation and virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The present study was designed to decipher the impact of perturbation in DevR-mediated signaling on these properties. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS M. tb complemented (Comp) strains expressing different levels of DevR were constructed in Mut1* background (expressing DevR N-termi...

A theoretical framework was established for the interpretation of microarray measurements. Mathematical equations were derived that link the molecular processes involved in the transcription and translation of an open reading frame (ORF) with the properties of a population of cells. The theory was applied to three published sets of microarray measurements related to the growth of Mycobacterium ...