Study: TB Bacteria Blunt Immunity
Posted on: Tuesday, 8 May 2007, 15:00 CDT
Scientists in India say a protein secreted by the bacterium that causes tuberculosis also dampens early immune responses against the disease.
The bacterium mycobacterium tuberculosis infects at least one-third of the world's population, with new infections occurring at a rate of about one per second.
But now Joyoti Basu and colleagues at the Bose Institute in Calcutta have evaluated the function of the secreted protein ESAT-6 -- previously associated with inefficient immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis -- by showing purified ESAT-6 blocks signaling from specialized immune receptor proteins known as Toll-like receptors.
Key to that effect is the specific interaction of ESAT-6 with one of the Toll-like receptors, TLR2, on the surface of macrophages. The researchers found that by binding to TLR2, ESTA-6 induces a signal that shuts down all other Toll-like receptor function.
The scientists say blocking interactions between ESAT-6 and TLR2 might represent a therapeutic option for treating tuberculosis, while simulation of interactions between ESAT-6 and TLR2 could be useful in suppressing excessive inflammation.
The study is detailed in the June issue of Nature Immunology.
Source: United Press International
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