Recent advances in our understanding of human host responses to tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis remains one of the world's greatest public health challenges: 2 billion persons have latent infection, 8 million people develop active tuberculosis annually, and 2-3 million die. Recently, significant advances in our understanding of the human immune response against tuberculosis have occurred. The present review focuses on recent work in macrophage and T-cell biology that sheds light on the human immune response to tuberculosis. The role of key cytokines such as interferon-gamma is discussed, as is the role of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in immune regulation in tuberculosis, particularly with regard to implications for vaccine development and evaluation.
Schluger
N W
NW
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY, USA. ns311@columbia.edu
D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation / Q000502:physiology; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008264:Macrophages / Q000502:physiology; D010587:Phagocytosis / Q000502:physiology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*