Pulmonary Mycobacterium tuberculosis control associates with CXCR3- and CCR6-expressing antigen-specific Th1 and Th17 cell recruitment.

ABSTRACT: Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific (M. tuberculosis-specific) T cell responses associated with immune control during asymptomatic latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) remain poorly understood. Using a nonhuman primate aerosol model, we studied the kinetics, phenotypes, and functions of M. tuberculosis antigen-specific T cells in peripheral and lung compartments of M. tuberculosis-infected asymptomatic rhesus macaques by longitudinally sampling blood and bronchoalveolar lavage, for up to 24 weeks postinfection. We found substantially higher frequencies of M. tuberculosis-specific effector and memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells producing IFN-γ in the airways compared with peripheral blood, and these frequencies were maintained throughout the study period. Moreover, M. tuberculosis-specific IL-17+

SUBMITTER: Shanmugasundaram U 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7453885 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature