Host Immune Responses Differ between M. africanum- and M. tuberculosis-Infected Patients following Standard Anti-tuberculosis Treatment

Epidemiological differences exist between mycobacterium africanum (maf)- and mycobacterium tuberculosis (mtb)-infected patients,but to date,contributing host factors have not been characterised. we analysed clinical outcomes,as well as soluble markers and gene expression profiles in unstimulated,and esat6/cfp-10-,whole-maf- and mtb-stimulated blood samples of 26 maf- and 49 mtb-hiv-negative tuberculosis patients before,and after 2 and 6 months of anti-tuberculosis therapy. before treatment,both groups had similar clinical parameters,but differed in few cytokines concentration and gene expression profiles. following treatment the body mass index,skinfold thickness and chest x-ray scores showed greater improvement in the mtb- compared to maf-infected patients,after adjusting for age,sex and ethnicity (p = 0.02; 0.04 and 0.007,respectively). in addition,in unstimulated blood,il-12p70,il12a and tlr9 were significantly higher in maf-infected patients,while il-15,il-8 and mip-1α were higher in mtb-infected patients. overnight stimulation with esat-6/cfp-10 induced significantly higher levels of ifn-γ and tnf-α production,as well as gene expression of ccl4,il1b and tlr4 in mtb- compared to maf-infected patients. our study confirms differences in clinical features and immune genes expression and concentration of proteins associated with inflammatory processes between mtb- and maf-infected patients following anti-tuberculosis treatment these findings have public health implications for treatment regimens,and biomarkers for tuberculosis diagnosis and susceptibility. © 2016 tientcheu et al.