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Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, December 2006, p. 1299-1306, Vol. 13, No. 12
1071-412X/06/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/CVI.00132-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Laboratory of Mycobacterial Immunity and Pathogenesis, Public Health Research Institute, International Center for Public Health, Newark, New Jersey 07103-3535,1 Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7925, South Africa2
Received 5 April 2006/ Returned for modification 8 June 2006/ Accepted 20 September 2006
Dendritic cells (DCs) play a pivotal role in generating protective host immunity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Few studies have addressed DC function in the context of active tuberculosis (TB), largely due to technical constraints in obtaining adequate numbers of DC from sick patients. We quantitated peripheral blood myeloid DCs (mDCs) and plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) in the whole blood of patients with active TB and show that blood from patients with pleural TB was characterized by high circulating levels of mDCs. We also developed and optimized a novel whole-blood assay to study mDC production of the Th1-promoting cytokine interleukin 12 (IL-12) and upregulation of the maturation marker CCR7 after incubation with mycobacteria. We found that pleural TB was associated with increased IL-12 production and CCR7 expression compared to lung parenchymal disease. Our findings suggest important differences in innate immunity between patients with different forms of active TB, and this may contribute to the differences in natural history observed between the two groups.
Published ahead of print on 27 September 2006.
| Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. | Clin. Microbiol. Rev. | Infect. Immun. |
|---|---|---|
| J. Clin. Microbiol. | J. Virol. | ALL ASM JOURNALS |