Project description:Tuberculosis (TB) remains a deadly disease. The genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was neglected in the past, but is increasingly recognized as a determinant of immune responses and clinical outcomes of TB. However, how this bacterial diversity orchestrates immune responses to direct differences in TB severity remains unknown. We studied 681 patients with pulmonary TB and found that phylogenetically related M. tuberculosis isolates from cases with mild disease induced robust cytokine responses in macrophages. In contrast, isolates associated with severe TB cases failed to do so. Using representative isolates, we show that M. tuberculosis inducing a low cytokine response in macrophages also diminished activation of cytosolic surveillance systems, including cGAS and the inflammasome, suggesting a novel mechanism of immune escape. Isolates exhibiting this evasion strategy carried mutations in various components of the ESX-I secretion system. We conclude that host interactions with different M. tuberculosis strains results in variable TB severity.
Project description:We present a novel mathematical model involving various immune cell populations and tumor cellpopulations. The model describes how tumor cells evolve and survive the brief encounter with theimmune system mediated by natural killer (NK) cells and the activated CD8þcytotoxic T lymphocytes(CTLs). The model is composed of ordinary differential equations describing the interactions betweenthese important immune lymphocytes and various tumor cell populations. Based on up-to-dateknowledge of immune evasion and rational considerations, the model is designed to illustrate how tu-mors evade both arms of host immunity (i.e.innate and adaptive immunity). The model predicts that(a) an influx of an external source of NK cells might play a crucial role in enhancing NK-cell immunesurveillance; (b) the host immune system alone is not fully effective against progression of tumor cells;(c) the development of immunoresistance by tumor cells is inevitable in tumor immune surveillance. Ourmodel also supports the importance of infiltrating NK cells in tumor immune surveillance, which can beenhanced by NK cell-based immunotherapeutic approaches.
Project description:Most individuals infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis can control the infection by forming and maintaining TB granulomas at the local infection foci. However, when the chronic infection (also known as latency) becomes active, the caseous center of TB granuloma enlarges, and it liquefies and cavitates, ultimately releasing bacilli into airway. Deciphering how genes are regulated within TB granulomas will help to understand the granuloma biology. Therefore, we performed genome-wide microarray on caseous human pulmonary TB granulomas and compared with normal lung tissues.
Project description:Reference datasets are often used to compare, interpret or validate experimental data and analytical methods. In the field of gene expression, a dozen reference datasets have been published. Typically, they consist of individual baseline or spike-in experiments carried out in a single laboratory and representing a particular set of conditions. For most organisms, however, few or no such reference datasets are publicly available. Here, we describe a new type of datasets highly representative for the spatial, temporal and response dimensions of gene expression. They result from integrating expression data from a large number of globally normalized and quality controlled public experiments and aggregating results by anatomical parts, stages of development, perturbations, drugs, diseases, neoplasms, and genotypes. The proposed datasets were created for human and several model organisms and are publicly available at www.expressiondata.org.
Project description:Validation of gene expression levels to assess classification of TB patients and healthy controls qPCR gene expression profiling. Whole blood gene expression from TB patients (positive in GenXpert assay) and healthy controls; both tuberculin skin test positive (TSTpos) and -negative (TSTneg).
Project description:Changes in the blood transcriptome upon treatment were studied in a cohort of 42 latent tuberculosis (TB) subjects and 8 active TB subiects. Samples were collected at diagnosis (prior the start of treatment) and post treatment and gene expression studied with Illumina microarrays. We hypothesize that individuals with latent TB at risk of developing active disease are immunologically closer to those with active TB and will thus display a blood transcriptomic signature similar to active TB subjects upon treatment. This signature should significantly differ from the one mounted by latent TB individuals at low risk of progression. Thus, monitoring blood transcriptomic changes following anti-TB therapy might inform on which latent TB subjects should be prioritized for receiving therapeutic intervention in order to prevent further transmission.