Jeff Schorey talks with an undergraduate researcher. Photo by Matt Cashore/University of Notre Dame.
In part because of its resistance to many antibiotics, tuberculosis kills approximately 1.7 million people worldwide each year. But new research from the University of Notre Dame suggests that structures released by the infected cells may be used in tandem with antibiotics to boost the body’s immune system, helping fight off the disease.
The paper, published in EMBO Reports by Jeffrey Schorey, the George B. Craig Jr. Professor, and Yong Cheng, research assistant professor, both in the Department of Biological Sciences, describes how the structures, called extracellular vesicles (EVs), contain Mycobacterium tuberculosis RNA and transfer it to other cells. This starts a built-in weapon system against the disease in the form of an immune response.
Though extracellular vesicles containing RNA from viruses had been discovered years ago, Schorey and his collaborators recently discovered RNA from bacteria — Mycobacterium tuberculosis — in EVs. This discovery led to experiments described in the EMBO Reports paper to determine how the bacteria’s RNA was affecting the “target” cell, including cells infected by M. tuberculosis.
A key research discovery hinges on macrophages, which are cells of the immune system. These cells, when treated with EVs released from M. tuberculosis-infected cells, can control the infection better than macrophages not previously exposed to the EVs, Schorey and Cheng determined. “It had never before been shown that bacterial RNA in EVs can activate this sensing pathway, one that has primarily been thought to be involved in viral sensing,” Schorey said. The authors then show that EV-treated macrophages produce compounds like reactive oxygen species that can promote the killing of the M. tuberculosis once it infects the macrophage.
The discovery is important because it can lead to future therapies for treatment of tuberculosis. Preliminary data in the paper suggest that antibiotics might work better when combined with an immunotherapy based on using these EVs. The data from the mouse model showed that more of the bacterial-infected cells were killed with the combination of therapies than either antibiotics or EVs alone, Schorey noted.
The next steps for future research are to try this approach with other laboratory models, with the goal that they also show the benefit of combining EVs, as immunotherapy treatments, with antibiotics to treat drug-resistant tuberculosis.
Worldwide, more than 10 million people develop active tuberculosis each year. Furthermore, over two billion people are infected with the bacteria. This results in a reservoir of infected people who may develop disease if their immune systems are compromised.
Learn more: Research demonstrates how immunotherapy may be effective for fighting TB
The Latest on: Tuberculosis
via Google News
The Latest on: Tuberculosis
- Uptick in tuberculosis cases across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta forces in-school testingon May 10, 2022 at 7:48 am
The Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation is dispatching health teams to multiple villages in the Y-K Delta this month to test school age kids for tuberculosis. Case counts are trending above average ...
- Rare Genetic Markers of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Discoveredon May 10, 2022 at 5:00 am
To many, tuberculosis (TB) may seem like a disease from a bygone era. But, as researchers learned during the 20th century, the widespread use of lifesaving antibiotics may have transformed medicine, ...
- Researchers identify rare genetic markers of drug-resistant tuberculosison May 9, 2022 at 11:33 am
Researchers have identified rare genetic markers in M. tuberculosis that could improve early detection of drug-resistant strains of the disease, helping prevent their spread. To many, tuberculosis (TB ...
- New genetic markers could improve early detection of drug-resistant tuberculosison May 9, 2022 at 10:46 am
To many, tuberculosis (TB) may seem like a disease from a bygone era. But it still claims more than one million lives every year.
- Asian elephant cured of tuberculosis developed from long-term latencyon May 9, 2022 at 7:27 am
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). It was the leading cause of human death due to a single pathogen before the emergence of SARS-CoV-2.
- SDSU researchers identify rare genetic markers of drug-resistant tuberculosison May 9, 2022 at 6:05 am
Researchers at San Diego State University have identified rare genetic markers in M. tuberculosis that could improve early detection of drug-resistant strains of the disease, helping prevent their ...
- Methods combine to decode the biology of tuberculosison May 9, 2022 at 4:26 am
Scientists are fusing sequencing, chemistry and imaging techniques to probe interactions between pathogens and their host cells.
- Tuberculosis cases on the rise in Washington stateon May 6, 2022 at 9:13 am
Across the globe and across Washington state, tuberculosis (TB) cases are on the rise, according to the Department of Health. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, TB reporting ...
- Tuberculosis Pipeline Landscape Analysis of 38+ Companies by DelveInsighton May 4, 2022 at 10:02 am
New York, USA, May 04, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tuberculosis Pipeline Landscape Analysis of 38+ Companies by DelveInsight DelveInsight’s 'Tuberculosis Pipeline Insight 2022' report provides ...
- Covid-19 Has Made Tuberculosis Even More Of A Forgotten Pandemicon May 3, 2022 at 6:50 am
It extends to neglected tropical diseases, as well as the so-called “big three” infectious diseases malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis, by crowding out R&D funds and disrupting non-Covid-19 related ...
via Bing News