Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific cellular immune profiles suggest bacillary persistence decades after spontaneous cure in untreated tuberculosis

Millington, Kerry A, Gooding, Sarah, Hinks, Timothy S.C., Reynolds, D. John M. and Lalvani, Ajit (2010) Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific cellular immune profiles suggest bacillary persistence decades after spontaneous cure in untreated tuberculosis. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 202 (11), 1685-1689. (doi:10.1086/656772). (PMID:20958211)

Abstract

Individuals with self-healed tuberculosis from the preantibiotic era offer a unique insight into the natural history of and protective immunity to tuberculosis. In 27 such persons whose tuberculosis self-healed >50 years earlier, circulating Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen-specific interferon ? (IFN-?)- and interleukin 2 (IL-2)-secreting T cells were detected ex vivo in 16 and 19 individuals, respectively. The M. tuberculosis-specific T cell cytokine profile was dominated by effector memory T cells that secrete both IFN-? and IL-2 and included T cells that secrete only IFN-? or IL-2, suggesting persistence of antigen secreted by viable bacilli. Of 10 individuals with no M. tuberculosis antigen-specific IFN-?-secreting T cells detectable ex vivo, 7 had evidence of central memory T cells, consistent with clearance of infection.

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