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Immunological consequences of intragenus conservation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis T-cell epitopes

2014; National Academy of Sciences; Volume: 112; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1073/pnas.1416537112

1091-6490

Cecilia S. Lindestam Arlehamn, Sinu Paul, Federico Mele, Charlie Huang, Jason Greenbaum, Randi Vita, John Sidney, Bjoern Peters, Federica Sallusto, Alessandro Sette,

Immunodeficiency and Autoimmune Disorders

Significance Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection is one of the most common diseases worldwide. The Mycobacteria are a large bacterial family that includes MTB and nontuberculous mycobacteria commonly found in the environment (NTMs). We have shown that non–MTB-infected and non–bacillus Calmette–Guerin-vaccinated individuals nevertheless react to MTB-derived sequences. This reactivity can be explained by conservation of the epitope sequence in NTMs. Thus, the widespread exposure to various species of Mycobacteria influences reactivity to MTB and NTMs. We identified epitopes that are found only in NTMs, allowing dissociation of MTB- versus NTM-specific reactivity. These epitopes, in conjunction with epitopes specific to latent MTB infection, will provide a novel tool to study host–pathogen dynamics in the context of the design and evaluation of MTB vaccines and diagnostics.