The usefulness of the Freund-type adjuvants in which the antigen is incorporated into the watery phase of a water-in-oil emulsion, the oily phase of which contains added killed myeobacteria, is now firmly established. The knowledge concerning their action and the realization of their usefulness has accumulated from many sources, some of which are quite unrelated to one another. Lewis and Loomis...

T cell responses to ESAT-6 and culture filtrate protein 10 (CFP-10), antigens expressed by Mycobacterium tuberculosis but not by M. bovis bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), were found to discriminate reliably between infection with M. tuberculosis and BCG vaccination. Because the esat-6 and cfp-10 genes occur in M. kansasii and M. marinum, T cell responses to ESAT-6 and CFP-10 were investigated in ...

BACKGROUND Most environmental non-tuberculous mycobacteria have been demonstrated to invade amoebal trophozoites and cysts, but such relationships are largely unknown for members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. An environmental source has been proposed for the animal Mycobacterium bovis and the human Mycobacterium canettii. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Using optic and electron mi...

BACKGROUND The clinical significance of the presence of non-tuberculous mycobacteria in the sputum of patients with cystic fibrosis is unclear. A retrospective case-control study was performed to assess possible risk factors for non-tuberculous mycobacteria and its impact on clinical status in patients with cystic fibrosis. METHODS The records of all patients attending the Leeds cystic fibros...

It is well established that the nutritional status of the host affects resistance to disease. The impact of dietary lipids on experimental pulmonary infection with mycobacteria has not been investigated. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the role of dietary (n-3) and (n-6) fatty acids on immunity and resistance to aerosol infection with virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis in...

A novel multiprimer PCR method with the potential to identify mycobacteria in clinical samples is presented. The assay relies on the simultaneous amplification of three bacterial DNA genomic fragments by using different sets of oligonucleotide primers. The first set of primers amplifies a 506-bp fragment from the gene for the 32-kDa antigen of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is present in mos...

Dendritic cell (DC)-based vaccines are considered useful in cancer immunotherapy, and the interaction of DC and adjuvants is important in the design of the next generation vaccines. In this study, whether DC combined with Rv2299c derived from mycobacteria could improve anti-tumor immune responses in a colon cancer mouse model was evaluated. MC38 cell lines were injected subcutaneously to establ...

Fifty four patients with cystic fibrosis, aged 3-67 years, were studied prospectively for pulmonary mycobacterial infection. Sputum smears and cultures were carried out and intradermal skin tests performed. Mycobacteria were cultured from six patients in association with clinical deterioration; four patients had positive direct smears. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M aviumintracellulare, M kansas...

Considerable evidence supports the concept that CD4(+) T cells are important in sarcoidosis pathogenesis, but the antigens responsible for the observed Th1 immunophenotype remain elusive. The epidemiologic association with bioaerosols and the presence of granulomatous inflammation support consideration of mycobacterial antigens. To explore the role of mycobacterial antigens in sarcoidosis immun...

The immune responses of T-helper (Th) and T-regulatory cells are thought to play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of allergic airway inflammation observed in asthma. The correction of immune response by these cells should be considered in the prevention and treatment of asthma. Native antigen 85B (Ag85B) of mycobacteria, which cross-reacts among mycobacteria species, may play an important bio...