A research team at Yonsei University suggests a possible treatment to prevent the worsening of severe tuberculosis
A research team at Yonsei University announced on the 13th that they have identified the mechanism by which tuberculosis worsens to a severe degree when additional virus infection occurs following infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Professor Shin Sung-jae and Kwon Ki-woong of the Department of Microbiology at Ewha University College of Medicine, Sang-Jun Ha, In-Seok Lee of the College of Life Systems, and Dr. Tae-Gun Kang jointly participated in this study.
The thesis was published in the latest issue of the international academic journal ‘Nature Communications’.
The research team compared the progress of tuberculosis by dividing the experimental mice into a group infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis alone and a group infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and lymphocytic meningitis virus.
As a result, no serious lung pathology was observed in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis single-infected group, but extensive lung inflammation accompanied by necrotizing granuloma occurred in the virus co-infected group, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis also proliferated excessively, the research team explained.
The research team analyzed that this result was due to an excessive increase in type 1 interferon in the body following virus infection, and a decrease in Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific T-cells, which are essential for the control of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, in the lung tissue.
Therefore, when a neutralizing antibody that prevents excessive increase of type 1 interferon was injected into experimental mice, tuberculosis did not worsen to a severe state, the research team reported.
Professor Shin Sung-jae said, “TB is still a disease with a high incidence and mortality rate in Korea.
/yunhap news
ⓒ Hankyung.com, unauthorized reprinting and redistribution prohibited
