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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
immunology and microbiology
FOXP3 gene expression in a tuberculosis case contact study
Clinical and Experimental Immunology, Volume 149, No. 1, Year 2007
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Description
Regulatory T lymphocytes (Tregs) that express FOXP3 are involved in the beneficial attenuation of immunopathology, but are also implicated in down-regulation of protective responses to infection. Their role in tuberculosis (TB) is unknown. We classified 1272 healthy TB contacts according to their tuberculin skin test (TST) and interferon (IFN)-γ enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) results and 128 TB cases, and studied the expression of FOXP3 and interleukin (IL)-10 in blood samples. Compared to the uninfected contact group (TST-, ELISPOT-), we observed higher levels of FOXP3 mRNA in blood from TB patients (< 0.001), but IL-10 expression was slightly lower (P = 0.04). In contrast, FOXP3 expression levels were significantly lower (P = 0.001) in the recently infected contacts (TST+, ELISPOT+) but there was no difference for IL-10 (P = 0.74). We hypothesize that during early/subclinical TB, most of which will become latent, FOXP3+ T regs may be sequestered in the lungs, but when TB becomes progressive, FOXP3 reappears at increased levels in the periphery. While these findings do not reveal the role, beneficial or harmful, of Tregs in TB, they emphasize the probable importance of these cells. © 2007 British Society for Immunology.
Authors & Co-Authors
Burl, Sarah
Unknown Affiliation
Hill, Philip C.
Unknown Affiliation
Jeffries, David J.
Unknown Affiliation
Holland, Martin J.
Unknown Affiliation
FOX, A.
Unknown Affiliation
Lugos, M. D.
Unknown Affiliation
Adegbola, Richard A.
Unknown Affiliation
Rook, Graham A.W.
Unknown Affiliation
Zumla, A. I.
Unknown Affiliation
McAdam, Keith P.W.J.
Unknown Affiliation
Brookes, Roger H.
Unknown Affiliation
Statistics
Citations: 54
Authors: 11
Affiliations: 4
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1111/j.1365-2249.2007.03399.x
ISSN:
00099104
e-ISSN:
13652249
Research Areas
Genetics And Genomics
Infectious Diseases