EMBO Rep: immunotherapy can effectively treat tuberculosis

March 17, 2019 / BIOON / - tuberculosis (TB) causes 1.7 million deaths worldwide every year, partly due to its resistance to many antibiotics But a new study from the University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame) shows that new substances released by infected cells can work together with antibiotics to strengthen the immune system and help fight diseases Photo source: EMBO reports, published in EMBO reports, was led by Jeffrey schorey, Professor of George B Craig Jr, Department of Biosciences, and Yong Cheng, assistant professor It reveals the process and impact of the transfer of extracellular vesicles (EVS) containing TB RNA to other cells, which will trigger the immune system to attack TB Although EVs from viruses have been discovered for many years, schorey and his colleagues found RNA from TB in EVs The discovery prompted researchers to further study how RNA from these bacteria affects target cells, including those infected with TB One of the key findings is the discovery of macrophages, a natural immune cell When these cells are treated with EVs derived from TB infected cells, they can better control the infection "No previous study has found that bacterial RNA in EVs can activate this signaling pathway, which is believed to be mainly involved in virus perception." Said schorey The authors then determined that macrophages treated with EV produced substances such as living oxygen to promote Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection with macrophages This is an important finding, because it will bring new directions for the treatment of TB in the future Preliminary data from this study indicate that the combination of antibiotics and immunotherapy based on these EVs is more effective These data from mouse models suggest that combination therapy kills more infected cells than single therapy The researchers' next step is to try to use this method to treat other diseases The goal is to determine the efficacy of EVs (as an immunotherapy) combined with antibiotics in the treatment of drug-resistant TB More than 10 million people suffer from TB every year in the world, and more than 2 billion people will be infected by this bacterium in the future As a result, people with low immune system will eventually suffer from this disease Reference materials: Yong Cheng et al Extractable skills deliver Mycobacterium RNA to promote host immunity and biological killing, EMBO reports (2019) Doi: 10.15252/embr.201846613