title: Chewing the fat: lipid metabolism and homeostasis during M. tuberculosis infection.
abstract: The interplay between Mycobacterium tuberculosis lipid metabolism, the immune response and lipid homeostasis in the host creates a complex and dynamic pathogen-host interaction. Advances in imaging and metabolic analysis techniques indicate that M. tuberculosis preferentially associates with foamy cells and employs multiple physiological systems to utilize exogenously derived fatty-acids and cholesterol. Moreover, novel insights into specific host pathways that control lipid accumulation during infection, such as the PPARγ and LXR transcriptional regulators, have begun to reveal mechanisms by which host immunity alters the bacterial micro-environment. As bacterial lipid metabolism and host lipid regulatory pathways are both important, yet inherently complex, components of active tuberculosis, delineating the heterogeneity in lipid trafficking within disease states remains a major challenge for therapeutic design.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Physiological Systems, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA.
authors.forename: Rustin R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Lovewell
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Physiological Systems, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Sassetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA. Electronic address: bcv8@cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Brian C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: VanderVen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D005487:Foam Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D006706:Homeostasis; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D066292:Lipid Droplets / Q000378:metabolism; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008264:Macrophages / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids