Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic infectious disease mainly caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). The structures of polysaccharides and glycolipids at M. cell wall vary among different strains, which affect the physiology pathogenesis mycobacteria activating or inhibiting innate acquired immunity. Among them, some components such as lipomannan (LM) lipoarabinomannan (LAM) activat...

Studies of Mycobacterium leprae, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Nocardia caviae in comparison with each other and with other Mycobacterium and Nocardia species were performed on the basis of antigen 21 intramolecular heterogeneity. Three different antisera were used: rabbit anti-Mycobacterium smegmatis antiserum, rabbit anti-Nocardia asteroides antiserum, and a lepromatous serum pool. With refe...

Crossed immunoelectrophoresis (CIE) has been used to develop a reference system for classifying mycobacterial antigens. The subsequent use of specific antibodies allowed further determination of antigens by molecular weight. The monoclonal antibody F126-2, originally raised against a 34-kDa antigen of Mycobacterium kansasii, reacted with antigen 84 (Ag84) in the CIE reference system for Mycobac...

We demonstrate that Mycobacterium tuberculosis that is unable to export the complex lipid phthiocerol dimycocerosate has a decreased capacity to replicate in mice and affords sustained protective immunity against M. tuberculosis infection Protection was significantly better than that provided by the existing vaccine, Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), and this improved protectiv...

Tuberculosis is responsible for >2 million deaths a year, and the number of new cases is rising worldwide. DNA vaccination combined with Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) represents a potential strategy for prevention of this disease. Here, we used a heterologous prime-boost immunization approach using a combination of DNA plasmids and BCG in order to improve the efficacy of va...

Tuberculosis (TB) is a zoonotic infectious disease common to humans and animals which has been caused by a rod shaped, acid fast bacterium, called Mycobacterium bovis. The rapid and sensitive detection is a great challenge for TB diagnosis. The virulent strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) have 16 different regions of difference (RD) in their genome which encode some important a...

Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is defined as a state of persistent immune response to stimulation by Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens without evidence of clinically manifested active TB [1]. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that one-third of the global population is infected by Mycobacterium tuberculosis [2]. They cannot transmit tuberculosis (TB), but they can develop the...