Macrophage-Mycobacteria Interaction: Exploration of Proteomic Signatures

Tuberculosis (TB) has overburdened humans for ages and continues to be a major health problem worldwide. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a facultative intracellular pathogen, is the causative agent of human TB. M. tuberculosis has an enormous capacity to survive and multiply inside host macrophages (MΦs), which are one of the most hostile cell types of the host. MΦs play a central role(s) as an effecter cell in host defense against mycobacterial infections. Soon after the inhalation of droplet-nuclei containing M. tuberculosis by the host, MΦsare the first cells to interact with mycobacteria, leading to the onset of primary events which later ensue in the development of TB. MΦs, all by themselves, are not sufficient to provide protective immunity; they require interaction with other cells (e. g. T-cells) to mount an enhanced protective immune response against the pathogen. The cytokines such as interferon gamma and tumor necrosis factor alpha etc. Play a major role in the regulation of interactions among different cells of the immune system to augment immunity. In this review, we focus on various functional roles of cytokines which serve as a link between innate and adaptive immunity, and discuss their potential use as biomarker(s) or biosignatures for the diagnosis, to monitor the progression of disease, and to determine the success of the treatment of human TB.