Ex-vivo characterization of regulatory T cells in pulmonary tuberculosis patients, latently infected persons, and healthy endemic controls.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Regulatory T cells (Treg) are an essential arm of adaptive immunity not only in tolerance and autoimmunity but also in infectious diseases. In Tuberculosis (TB), it has been suggested that the frequency of Tregs is higher in the blood of TB patients when compared to healthy controls with subsequent decline after treatment. However, with the discovery that FOXP3, the hallmark marker of Tregs, is not exclusive to Tregs and the lack of specific markers for Tregs, it has been a challenge to fully understand the role of Tregs in TB.

Method

We isolated PBMC from smear positive TB patients (TB, N = 13) before and after treatment, latent TB infected participants (LTBI, N = 8), and healthy endemic controls (EC, N = 9) and evaluated the frequency of different populations of

SUBMITTER: Zewdie M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5111553 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature