Type I interferons in tuberculosis: Foe and occasionally friend
More about Open Access at the CrickAbstract
Tuberculosis remains one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide, and, despite its clinical significance, there are still significant gaps in our understanding of pathogenic and protective mechanisms triggered by infection. Type I interferons (IFN) regulate a broad family of genes that either stimulate or inhibit immune function, having both host-protective and detrimental effects, and exhibit well-characterized antiviral activity. Transcriptional studies have uncovered a potential deleterious role for type I IFN in active tuberculosis. Since then, additional studies in human tuberculosis and experimental mouse models of infection support the concept that type I IFN promotes both bacterial expansion and disease pathogenesis. More recently, studies in a different setting have suggested a putative protective role for type I IFN. In this study, we discuss the mechanistic and contextual factors that determine the detrimental versus beneficial outcomes of type I IFN induction during infection, from human disease to experimental mouse models of tuberculosis.
Journal details
Journal Journal of Experimental Medicine
Volume 215
Issue number 5
Pages 1273-1285
Publication date
Full text links
Publisher website (DOI) 10.1084/jem.20180325
Europe PubMed Central 29666166
Pubmed 29666166
Keywords
Related topics
Type of publication