Evasion of Innate and Adaptive Immunity by Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Through thousands of years of reciprocal coevolution, Mycobacterium tuberculosis has become one of humanity's most successful pathogens, acquiring the ability to establish latent or progressive infection and persist even in the presence of a fully functioning immune system. The ability of M. tu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Microbiology spectrum 2014-10, Vol.2 (5)
Main Authors: Goldberg, Michael F, Saini, Neeraj K, Porcelli, Steven A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptive Immunity
Animals
Host-Pathogen Interactions
Humans
Immune Evasion
Immunity, Innate
Macrophages - immunology
Macrophages - microbiology
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Mycobacterium tuberculosis - immunology
Mycobacterium tuberculosis - physiology
Phagosomes - metabolism
Phagosomes - microbiology
Review Article
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Summary:Through thousands of years of reciprocal coevolution, Mycobacterium tuberculosis has become one of humanity's most successful pathogens, acquiring the ability to establish latent or progressive infection and persist even in the presence of a fully functioning immune system. The ability of M. tuberculosis to avoid immune-mediated clearance is likely to reflect a highly evolved and coordinated program of immune evasion strategies that interfere with both innate and adaptive immunity. These include the manipulation of their phagosomal environment within host macrophages, the selective avoidance or engagement of pattern recognition receptors, modulation of host cytokine production, and the manipulation of antigen presentation to prevent or alter the quality of T-cell responses. In this article we review an extensive array of published studies that have begun to unravel the sophisticated program of specific mechanisms that enable M. tuberculosis and other pathogenic mycobacteria to persist and replicate in the face of considerable immunological pressure from their hosts. Unraveling the mechanisms by which M. tuberculosis evades or modulates host immune function is likely to be of major importance for the development of more effective new vaccines and targeted immunotherapy against tuberculosis.
ISSN:2165-0497
2165-0497
DOI:10.1128/microbiolspec.MGM2-0005-2013