Glucose levels affect LL-37 expression in monocyte-derived macrophages altering the Mycobacterium tuberculosis intracellular growth control.
Diabetes mellitus (DM)-2 patients have an increased susceptibility to develop pulmonary tuberculosis; this is partly due to the impairment of the innate immunity because of their higher glucose concentrations. In the present study, we determined the effect of the glucose concentrations in the LL-37 expression in infected and non-infected macrophages. Our results showed that the increasing glucose concentrations correlates with the low cathelicidin expression in non-infected cells, however in Mycobacterium tuberculosis infected cells, LL-37 expression was substantially increased in higher glucose concentrations, nevertheless the mycobacterial burden also increased, this phenomena can be associated with the cathelicidin immunomodulatory activity. Further evaluation for LL-37 needs to be done to determine whether this peptide can be used as a biomarker of tuberculosis progression in DM2 patients.
Medical Research Unit Zacatecas, Mexican Institute for Social Security, Zacatecas, Mexico.
Alejandra
A
Montoya-Rosales
Medical Research Unit Zacatecas, Mexican Institute for Social Security, Zacatecas, Mexico.
Pamela
P
Castro-Garcia
Medical Research Unit Zacatecas, Mexican Institute for Social Security, Zacatecas, Mexico.
Flor
F
Torres-Juarez
Medical Research Unit Zacatecas, Mexican Institute for Social Security, Zacatecas, Mexico.
Jose Antonio
JA
Enciso-Moreno
Medical Research Unit Zacatecas, Mexican Institute for Social Security, Zacatecas, Mexico. Electronic address: rondo_vm@yahoo.com.
Bruno
B
Rivas-Santiago
D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000378:metabolism*; D058491:Bacterial Load; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008264:Macrophages / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000276:immunology*; D020298:U937 Cells; D054804:Cathelicidins
D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D005947:Glucose; D054804:Cathelicidins
Cathelicidin; Diabetes; Host defense peptides; LL-37; Tuberculosis