Mycobacterium tuberculosis Exploits a Molecular Off Switch of the Immune System for Intracellular Survival.

ABSTRACT: Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) survives and multiplies inside human macrophages by subversion of immune mechanisms. Although these immune evasion strategies are well characterised functionally, the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Here we show that during infection of human whole blood with M. tuberculosis, host gene transcriptional suppression, rather than activation, is the predominant response. Spatial, temporal and functional characterisation of repressed genes revealed their involvement in pathogen sensing and phagocytosis, degradation within the phagolysosome and antigen processing and presentation. To identify mechanisms underlying suppression of multiple immune genes we undertook epigenetic analyses. We identified significantly differentially exp

SUBMITTER: von Both U 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5766484 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature