ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Microbial Immunology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1639808
This article is part of the Research TopicDeciphering Host-Pathogen Interactions in Tuberculosis: Implications for Diagnostics and TherapeuticsView all 10 articles
Functional and phenotypic characterization of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from tuberculosis patients in Southern Thailand
Provisionally accepted
Pyae Sone Oo1
Jomkwan Ongarj1,2
Ratchanon Sophonmanee1
Narisa Mothong1
Sahasawat Suksan1
Natapohn Saowaphong1
Rachel Tanner2
Nawamin Pinpathomrat1*- 1Department of Biomedical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Thailand
- 2University of Oxford Department of Biology, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global health challenge, with active TB disease (ATB) and latent TB infection (LTBI) representing distinct immunological states. Understanding immune responses in these groups is critical for developing effective interventions. The complex nature of immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) within and between different stages of TB, host evasion mechanisms of the bacterium, variable protection conferred by the BCG vaccine in adults, and lack of validated immune correlates of protection are among the key challenges to the successful control of TB. In the present study, we conducted functional and phenotypic characterization of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from a cohort in Southern Thailand. We compared immune responses in individuals with ATB, LTBI and healthy controls (HC) using flow cytometry (ATB n = 9, LTBI n = 11, HC n = 10) and the mycobacterial growth inhibition assay (MGIA) (ATB n = 13, LTBI n = 15, HC n = 15). MGIA revealed significantly enhanced control of BCG growth in the ATB group compared to LTBI and HC groups. Furthermore, NK cell frequency and TNF-α levels were significantly elevated in ATB compared to LTBI and HC groups, and CD4+ T cell TNF-α responses correlated with mycobacterial growth control. The findings from this study demonstrate differential immune responses across TB stages in this cohort, identify potential cellular markers for TB diagnosis and monitoring, and may guide vaccine strategies and host-directed therapies.
Keywords: Tuberculosis, mycobacterial growth control, MGIA, CD4+ T cells, TNF-α, immune response
Received: 02 Jun 2025; Accepted: 15 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sone Oo, Ongarj, Sophonmanee, Mothong, Suksan, Saowaphong, Tanner and Pinpathomrat. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Nawamin Pinpathomrat, nawamin.p@psu.ac.th
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