Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the world’s major infectious diseases with a global yearly burden of 8.7 million new cases of active disease, 1.4 million deaths, and a third of the world’s population estimated to harbor latent TB infection (LTBI). Bovine TB is also a major threat to cattle breeding, meat and milk production. In humans, TB is mostly caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), which has evolved to be an exquisitely well-adapted human pathogen. Although much has been learned in recent years, we still do not fully understand the nature of the host-pathogen interactions in TB. Attaining a fundamental understanding is central to developing effective vaccines, improved diagnostics, and new therapeutics for TB. Of particular importance is understanding host immunity in the early stages of infection and in the persistent state of LTBI, where the pathogen can reside in the host as a lifelong, dormant infection awaiting an opportunity to recur. New diagnostics that can more rapidly diagnose active or latent disease and determine antibiotic susceptibility could markedly change the trajectory of the epidemic. As rising prevalence of drug-resistance threatens the advances made in global TB control, new antibiotics that shorten treatment or that effectively treat drug-resistant TB are also critically needed.
Advances in genomics, animal models and vaccinology have enabled promising, innovative approaches to tackling TB infection. However, major knowledge gaps remain, including a fundamental understanding of LTBI, how the balance of host and pathogen factors determine whether infection will be sterilized or progressive in the initial stages of infection, and mechanisms accounting for the stable host-pathogen co-evolution seen in Mtb strains. Innate immunity is also a crucial link in determining downstream adaptive immunity, which is responsible for formation of granulomas that provide a cordon around Mtb-infected macrophages, potentially establishing latency and acting as a reservoir for bacterial persistence and dissemination of future disease. The goal of this special issue is to attract research articles, reviews, commentaries, and brief correspondence that contribute to the understanding of host immunity against TB and the role this plays in the pathogenesis and protection against the disease.
Areas to be covered in the current Research Topic may include, but are not limited to:
• Innate immunity in tuberculosis at the early stages of infection
• The bridge between innate immunity and adaptive immunity in tuberculosis: consequences for pathogenesis and protection.
• Cellular and humoral players involved in the establishment and maintenance of the granuloma
• Clinical advances in using RNA-Seq as a diagnostic and disease monitoring strategy in TB
• Developments in animal and ex vivo/in vitro models to study TB pathogenesis, (e.g. bovine TB, in vitro granulomas, Zebrafish and primate models)
• Candidates and approaches for vaccines against tuberculosis
• Novel drug targets for active TB and LBTI
• Clinical and epidemiological studies on genetic associations with TB disease
• Evolution of mycobacterial strains (e.g. M. tuberculosis and M. bovis) that identify virulence determinants.
• Pathogenesis of bovine TB
Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the world’s major infectious diseases with a global yearly burden of 8.7 million new cases of active disease, 1.4 million deaths, and a third of the world’s population estimated to harbor latent TB infection (LTBI). Bovine TB is also a major threat to cattle breeding, meat and milk production. In humans, TB is mostly caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), which has evolved to be an exquisitely well-adapted human pathogen. Although much has been learned in recent years, we still do not fully understand the nature of the host-pathogen interactions in TB. Attaining a fundamental understanding is central to developing effective vaccines, improved diagnostics, and new therapeutics for TB. Of particular importance is understanding host immunity in the early stages of infection and in the persistent state of LTBI, where the pathogen can reside in the host as a lifelong, dormant infection awaiting an opportunity to recur. New diagnostics that can more rapidly diagnose active or latent disease and determine antibiotic susceptibility could markedly change the trajectory of the epidemic. As rising prevalence of drug-resistance threatens the advances made in global TB control, new antibiotics that shorten treatment or that effectively treat drug-resistant TB are also critically needed.
Advances in genomics, animal models and vaccinology have enabled promising, innovative approaches to tackling TB infection. However, major knowledge gaps remain, including a fundamental understanding of LTBI, how the balance of host and pathogen factors determine whether infection will be sterilized or progressive in the initial stages of infection, and mechanisms accounting for the stable host-pathogen co-evolution seen in Mtb strains. Innate immunity is also a crucial link in determining downstream adaptive immunity, which is responsible for formation of granulomas that provide a cordon around Mtb-infected macrophages, potentially establishing latency and acting as a reservoir for bacterial persistence and dissemination of future disease. The goal of this special issue is to attract research articles, reviews, commentaries, and brief correspondence that contribute to the understanding of host immunity against TB and the role this plays in the pathogenesis and protection against the disease.
Areas to be covered in the current Research Topic may include, but are not limited to:
• Innate immunity in tuberculosis at the early stages of infection
• The bridge between innate immunity and adaptive immunity in tuberculosis: consequences for pathogenesis and protection.
• Cellular and humoral players involved in the establishment and maintenance of the granuloma
• Clinical advances in using RNA-Seq as a diagnostic and disease monitoring strategy in TB
• Developments in animal and ex vivo/in vitro models to study TB pathogenesis, (e.g. bovine TB, in vitro granulomas, Zebrafish and primate models)
• Candidates and approaches for vaccines against tuberculosis
• Novel drug targets for active TB and LBTI
• Clinical and epidemiological studies on genetic associations with TB disease
• Evolution of mycobacterial strains (e.g. M. tuberculosis and M. bovis) that identify virulence determinants.
• Pathogenesis of bovine TB
