BACKGROUND T-cell responses against dormancy-, resuscitation-, and reactivation-associated antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis are candidate biomarkers of latent infection in humans. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We established an assay based on two rounds of in vitro restimulation and intracellular cytokine analysis that detects T-cell responses to antigens expressed during latent M. tub...

BACKGROUND IFN-γ and IL-2 cytokine-profiles define three functional T-cell subsets which may correlate with pathogen load in chronic intracellular infections. We therefore investigated the feasibility of the immunospot platform to rapidly enumerate T-cell subsets by single-cell IFN-γ/IL-2 cytokine-profiling and establish whether immunospot-based T-cell signatures distinguish different clinical ...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, resides and replicates within susceptible hosts by inhibiting host antimicrobial mechanisms. Prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)), produced by M. tuberculosis-infected macrophages, exerts a variety of immunomodulatory functions via 4 receptors (EP1-EP4), each mediating distinct PGE(2) functions. Here, we show that M. tuberculosis infection...

We report that dissemination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the mouse is under host control and precedes the initiation of T-cell immunity. Nine to eleven days after aerosol inoculation, M. tuberculosis disseminates to the pulmonary lymph nodes (LN), where M. tuberculosis-specific T cells are detected 2 to 3 days thereafter. This indicates that the initial spread of bacteria occurs via lympha...

BACKGROUND The -159C/T polymorphism in the CD14 gene has been implicated in susceptibility to tuberculosis, but the results were inconclusive. The present meta-analysis aimed to perform a comprehensive assessment of the literature on the possible association between the -159C/T polymorphism and tuberculosis risk. METHODS We searched in Pubmed and Embase for studies evaluating the association ...

clinical disease state and effect of treatment. J Immunol 2001; 167: 5217–5225. 3 Carrara S, Vincenti D, Petrosillo N, et al. Use of a T cell-based assay for monitoring efficacy of antituberculosis therapy. Clin Infect Dis 2004; 38: 754–756. 4 Kobashi Y, Mouri K, Fukuda M, et al. Transitional change in the clinical features of pulmonary tuberculosis. Respiration 2008; 75: 304–309. 5 Bosshard V,...

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) has been used for vaccination against tuberculosis for nearly a century. Here, we analyze immunity induced by a live tuberculosis vaccine candidate, recombinant BCG ΔureC::hly vaccine (rBCG), with proven preclinical and clinical safety and immunogenicity. We pursue in-depth analysis of the endogenous mycobacteria-specific CD4(+) T-cell population, comparing the mo...

Patients with tuberculosis frequently develop anergy, a state of T-cell hyporesponsiveness in which defective T-cell costimulation could be a factor. To know if the expression of T-cell costimulatory molecules was altered in tuberculosis, we analyzed the peripheral blood T-cell phenotype of 23 Mexican patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. There was severe CD4 (P < .001) and CD8 (P < .01) lympho...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (H37Rv strain) was used in this study. The bacterial cells were disintegrated by sonication. The separation and characterization of the soluble molecules were attempted by various techniques including gel filtration, ion exchange chromatographies and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, using SDS and 2ME. Eight protein molecules with molecular weights ranging from...

Infection of C57BL/6 mice with Mycobacterium tuberculosis results in the development of a progressive disease during the first 2 wk after challenge. Thereafter, the disease is controlled by the emergence of protective T cells. We have used this infection model in conjunction with direct T cell expression cloning to identify Ags involved with the early control of the disease. A protective M. tub...