Abstract
Regulation of the immune response during active tuberculosis (TB) has been partly deciphered. In pulmonary TB there is transient systemic immunosuppression due to overexpression of transforming growth factor beta and interleukin-10. This is superimposed on a primary T-cell defect. Locally there is intense inflammation (lung, pleural fluid) with overexpression of immunosuppressive factors (bronchoalveolar lavage) and extensive apoptosis. These observations suggest that immune therapies should be aimed at neutralizing the negative regulatory factors rather than accentuating an already intense immune response. Also a partially effective vaccine carries the potential risk of exacerbating disease.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 23-28 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Clinical and Translational Science |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2010 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Immuno-pathogenesis
- Immunoregulation
- Tuberculosis
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Medicine(all)
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
- Neuroscience(all)
- Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics(all)