Advances in Understanding of the Immune Response to Mycobacterial Pathogens and Vaccines through Use of Cattle and Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis as a Prototypic Mycobacterial Pathogen

Use of RNA-seq to identify genes encoding cytokines and chemokines activated following uptake and processing a candidate peptide vaccine developed against Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis

Analysis of the primary and recall responses to a membrane molecule (MMP), encoded by MAP2121c demonstrated that tri-directional signaling between the antigen-presenting cell (APC), CD4 and CD8 is essential for eliciting a CD8 cytotoxic T cell (CTL) response against Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis. As reported here, RNA-sequencing was used to initiate the characterization of the signaling pathways involved in eliciting the development of CD8 CTL, starting with the characterization of the activation status of genes in monocyte-derived macrophages (MoMΦ) following uptake and processing MMP for the presentation of antigenic epitopes to CD4 and CD8 T cells. Activation status was compared with the uptake and processing of LPS, a nonspecific stimulator of macrophages. 1609 genes were identified that were upregulated, and 1277 were downregulated three hours after uptake and processing MMP. No significant difference was observed in the cytokine genes selected for analysis of the signaling that must occur between APC, CD4, and CD8 for the development of CTL. The initial observations indicate screening of the transcriptome should include genes involved in signaling between APC and CD4, and CD8 regardless of their activation status. Four genes of interest in this study, IL12A, IL12B, IL15, and IL23A, were not significantly different from control values. The initial studies also indicate MoMΦ can be included with dendritic cells and monocyte-derived dendritic cells for further analysis of the tri-directional signaling required for the development of CTL.

Differential Diagnosis of Abdominal Tuberculosis in the Adult-Literature Review

Tuberculosis (TB) is a public health issue that affects mostly, but not exclusively, developing countries. Abdominal TB is difficult to detect at first, with the incidence ranging from 10% to 30% of individuals with lung TB. Symptoms are non-specific, examinations can be misleading, and biomarkers commonly linked with other diseases can also make appropriate diagnosis difficult. As a background for this literature review, the method used was to look into the main characteristics and features of abdominal tuberculosis that could help with differentiation on the PubMed, Science Direct, and Academic Oxford Journals databases. The results were grouped into three categories: A. general features (the five forms of abdominal tuberculosis: wet and dry peritonitis, lymphadenopathy, lesions at the level of the cavitary organs, lesions at the level of the solid organs), B. different intra-abdominal organs and patterns of involvement (oesophageal, gastro-duodenal, jejunal, ileal, colorectal, hepatosplenic, and pancreatic TB with calcified lymphadenopathy, also with description of extraperitoneal forms), and C. special challenges of the differential diagnosis in abdominal TB (such as diagnostic overlap, the disease in transplant candidates and transplant recipients, and zoonotic TB). The study concluded that, particularly in endemic countries, any disease manifesting with peritonitis, lymphadenopathy, or lesions at the level of the intestines or solid organs should have workups and protocols applied that can confirm/dismiss the suspicion of abdominal tuberculosis.