International Journal of Mycobacteriology最新文献

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is broadly classified into pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB. Skeletal TB is considered to be a form of extrapulmonary TB whose incidence is around 1% of all forms of TB. The incidence of spinal TB is more than 50% of the entire skeletal TB.

Methods: A total of 92 consecutive patients, treated over a period of 2 years (January 2021-January 2023), are retrospectively analyzed.

Results: In our study, out of 92 patients, the pain had subsided in 90% of cases, and 12 patients showed improvement in motor power postoperatively. In our study, the patients have benefited due to the surgical intervention in decrease of pain and improvement in motor deficits in patients. The 29 patients who were operated on prophylaxis with pain as the only symptom benefitted from the resolution of the symptom of pain and did not develop any morbidity in their long-term follow-up. The sensory and bladder/bowel symptoms did not improve after surgery.

Conclusions: In the author's view, prophylactic surgery for spinal TB is safe and effective with confirmation of the disease. However, a well-designed randomized controlled trial, to definitely and objectively prove the usefulness of prophylactic surgery, is needed.

Background: The present meta-analysis was assessed to confirm the association between solute carrier family 11-member A1 (SLC11A1) gene (rs17235409) polymorphism with the Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in the Asian and Caucasian populations.

Methods: A search was conducted using the databases including Google Scholar, Science Direct, Embase, and PubMed to find the case-control studies related to SLC11A1 gene polymorphism and tuberculosis (TB) infection. The MetaGenyo programme was used to perform statistical analyses of the data. The odds ratio and 95% confidence interval were calculated based on genetic models such as allelic model, dominant model, recessive model, and overdominant. The heterogeneity and publication bias for the present study were examined to assess its quality. The study was registered in PROSPERO (ID Number: 461434).

Results: This current study revealed the association between the SLC11A1 gene polymorphism with TB. The statistical value obtained at P < 0.05 was deemed to be statistically significant. The meta-analysis results revealed that allele contrast and recessive models are significant association between SLC11A1 gene polymorphism with risk of TB infections, and dominant and overdominant models have no significant association with TB risk. In addition, the subgroup analysis based on the ethnicity dominant revealed a significant association with the risk of TB. Therefore, this results that the gene SLC11A1 has a significant association for allelic and recessive and has no significant association for dominant and overdominant with the risk of TB.

Conclusion: According to the data retrieved from the database with respect to the present study revealed that SLC11A1 gene polymorphism rs17235409 for allelic, recessive models have been associated with TB infections, but dominant and overdominant models have not been associated with TB infections.

Background: The major antigens encoded by Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific genomic regions of differences (RDs) could be useful in the development of new vaccines and/or diagnostic reagents using T-cell and/or antibody assays. In particular, RD1 proteins PE35, PPE68, ESXA, ESXB, and RD9 protein ESXV and their peptides have been identified as major T-cell antigens. However, little is known about their antibody reactivities in different mammalian species. This study aims to determine the antigen-specific antibody reactivities to the above antigens and their peptides in three different mammalian species, i.e., rabbits, mice, and humans.

Methods: Sera were obtained from (i) rabbits immunized with purified recombinant proteins PE35, PPE68, ESXA, ESXB, and ESXV; (ii) mice immunized with recombinant DNA vaccine constructs of pUMVC6 and pUMVC7 containing RD1 and RD9 genes; and (iii) tuberculosis (TB) patients and healthy humans. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were performed with the sera to determine the antibody reactivity to purified recombinant proteins, peptide pools, and individual peptides of RD1 and RD9 proteins.

Results: The ELISA results with sera from rabbits immunized with pure recombinant proteins showed positive antibody reactivity with all of the immunizing proteins and their synthetic peptide pools. Testing of the sera with individual peptides showed positive antibody reactivity with PE35 peptides P1 (aa 1-25), P2 (aa 16-40), P5 (aa 61-85), and P6 (aa 76-99); PPE68 peptides P9 (aa 121-145), P11 (aa 151-175), P14 (aa 196-220), P22 (aa 316-340), P23 (aa 331-355), and P24 (aa 346-371); all peptides (P1 to P6) of ESXA and ESXB; and ESXV peptides P1 (aa 1-25), P2 (aa 16-40), P3 (aa 31-55), P5 (aa 61-85), and P6 (aa 76-94). The sera from mice immunized with DNA vaccine constructs showed antibody reactivity to all proteins and the peptide P6 (aa 76-99) of PE35 and peptides P19 (aa 271-295) and P24 (aa 346-371) of PPE68. In humans, the peptides P11 (aa 151-175), P14 (aa 196-220), P22 (aa 316-340), P23 (aa 331-355), and P24 (aa 346-371) of PPE68 and the peptides P4 (aa 46-70), P5 (aa 61-85), and P6 (aa 76-94) of ESXV showed positive reactivity with sera from TB patients and healthy controls.

Conclusion: The results demonstrate the presence of several antibody epitopes in each protein, but variations in the epitopes recognized were observed among mice, rabbits, and humans, which could be due to mammalian species differences and/or mode of antigen delivery.

Background: Leprosy is still a global problem, especially in developing countries, including Indonesia. Ineffective prevention of leprosy leads to active transmission of the disease. World Health Organization (WHO) recommend post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) with single dose of rifampicin (SDR) for leprosy patients. Previous study showed protective effect of SDR against leprosy, especially for the first 2 years. Hence, the use of PEP and IgM anti PGL-1 examination are required to suspend the chain of leprosy transmission. This study evaluated the effectiveness of SDR administration by comparing IgM anti-PGL-1 antibody levels in seropositive household contacts before and after 2 years of SDR administration.

Methods: Analytical observational laboratory study comparing IgM anti PGL-1 antibody levels before and after 2 years of SDR administration in leprosy contacts, with a prospective follow-up study design. We conducted this study from December 2022 to January 2023 at Dr. Mohammad Hoesin General Hospital Palembang. All seropositive household contacts of leprosy who had been administrated SDR 2 years ago were included, then PGL-1 antibody levels were examined.

Results: The use of SDR showed significant improvement in leprosy contacts after 2 years (P=0.000). The median antibody level before SDR administration was 1,209.20 (615.81 - 4,353.60), which decrease to 146.03 (0 - 2,487.80) U/mL after 2 years. There was statistically significant relationship between history of BCG vaccination (P=0.003) and IgM PGL-1 antibody levels after 2 years of SDR administration.

Conclusion: There is a significant decrease in IgM anti PGL-1 antibody levels among leprosy contacts after 2 years of SDR chemoprophylaxis administration.

Background: For the present, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight (MALDI-ToF) mass spectrometry is the fastest and the most correct method for species identification of microorganisms. Apart from species-level identification, it allows to use a variety of approaches for the analysis and comparison of protein spectra of microorganisms of the same species, which are isolated from a patient at various disease states, that can be used in routine microbiological practice in laboratories fitted with mass analyzers.

Methods: Two strains of Mycobacterium fortuitum and two strains of Mycobacterium peregrinum were isolated from sputum samples, which were obtained from patients with different clinical aspects of mycobacteriosis, whereat were reinoculated on the universal chromogenic culture medium "UriSelect 4." Further, the MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry method was used, aiming to obtain protein profiles, which were analyzed using the FlexAnalysis 3.0 software package. Results of the statistical proteomic comparison of mass spectra were visualized using MALDI Biotyper 3.0 Offline Classification software.

Results: Presented clinical examples demonstrate that strains of the same species, which are isolated from the same patient at different times of infection, change their cultural properties. Dynamic changes in cultural properties are reflected in changes in protein profiles by comparison spectra of isolates at different stages of colonization, which is reflected in the correlation with the clinical condition of the patient.

Conclusion: Thus, the mentioned examples of proteomic analysis, using MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry, demonstrate the possibility of subtyping of strains, that are isolated on a universal chromogenic culture medium, in case of detection in the culture signs of population's heterogeneity, based on cultural properties.

Background: Age-period-cohort (APC) analysis has been employed to differentiate long-term trends in the incidences of communicable diseases, including tuberculosis (TB), into the effects of age, birth year, and calendar period. However, no such study was hitherto conducted for Japan, which has 70 years of surveillance data. Therefore, we conducted APC analysis for TB in Japan.

Methods: The national TB data for 1953-2022 were analyzed using the log-transformed linear model of APC analysis.

Results: Annual age-and sex-standardized notification rates of TB peaked at 599.0 per 100 000 population in 1955 and fell by 99% to 4.5 in 2022. Adjusting for the effects of the birth cohort and period, the relative age-effect risk of TB peaked at 20-29 years and went down toward 60-69 years. Regarding the birth cohort effect, the TB risk showed a turning point in approximately 1913 for the central years of birth. Another change appeared in 1963 when the decline of the risk slightly stagnated; then, it started declining again at a rate as fast as in 1923-1953. Period effects showed a hump in the late 1950s and early 1960s, then sharply declined to the late 1970s, and reached a near plateau level until 2022.

Conclusion: Our results highlight the continuing peak in TB disease risk for young adults and sharp decrease in disease risk in the 1960s and 70s. The introduction of anti-TB drugs in the 1950s and early 1970s had the most important impact on the epidemiology of TB in Japan.

Background: The lepromatous leprosy (LL) disease is caused by Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis which is characterized by inadequate response to treatment, a propensity to drug resistance, and patient disability. We aimed to evaluate current immunomodulatory medicines and their target proteins collectively as a drug repurposing strategy to decipher novel uses for LL.

Methods: A dataset of human genes associated with LL-immune response was retrieved from public health genomic databases including the Human Genome Epidemiology Navigator and DisGeNET. Retrieved genes were filtered and enriched to set a robust network (≥10, up to 21 edges) and analyzed in the Cytoscape program (v3.9). Drug associations were obtained in the NDEx Integrated Query (v1.3.1) coupled with drug databases such as ChEMBL, BioGRID, and DrugBank. These networks were analyzed in Cytoscape with the CyNDEx-2 plugin and STRING protein network database.

Results: Pathways analyses resulted in 100 candidate drugs organized into pharmacological groups with similar targets and filtered on 54 different drugs. Gene-target network analysis showed that the main druggable targets associated with LL were tumoral necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-1B, and interferon-gamma. Consistently, glucosamine, binimetinib, talmapimod, dilmapimod, andrographolide, and VX-702 might have a possible beneficial effect coupled with LL treatment.

Conclusion: Based on our drug repurposing analysis, immunomodulatory drugs might have a promising potential to be explored further as therapeutic options or to alleviate symptoms in LL patients.

Background: Drug-resistance tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most important global public health problems. Accurate and rapid drug-susceptibility testing is critical for the effective treatment of TB patients. Various colorimetric methods are used for anti-TB drug-susceptibility testing (DST) and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determination. This study was conducted to evaluate the resazurin microtiter assay (REMA) and malachite green decolorization assay (MGDA).

Methods: A total of 65 Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated from patients with suspected TB using REMA and malachite green microtiter assay methods were tested against streptomycin (SM), isoniazid (INH), rifampicin (RIF), and ethambutol (ETB). The Mycobacterial Growth Indicator Tube 960 DST method was accepted as the gold standard in the evaluation of test results.

Results: The sensitivity of REMA and MGDA tests was found to be 87.5% and 62.5% for INH, respectively. RIF and SM sensitivity for both tests was 100%. While ETB sensitivity was 81.8 for the REMA test, this rate was 60% for the MGDA test. Specificity of both tests varied between 92.5% and 98.2% according to the drug types.

Conclusion: REMA and MGDA are a simple, rapid, and low cost. They can be used as an alternative test for drug-susceptibility testing and MIC determination. Extensive studies and standardization are needed for the routine use of both tests.

Background: To combat the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic, the development of a better and faster diagnosis or more effective vaccine is essential. Pulmonary TB (PTB) is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality. Early diagnosis of TB is difficult. Serological assays have been performed with several antigens of laboratory strains such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv which have not been found to be highly sensitive. In the present study, various peptides were synthesized which were predicted on the basis of immunoreactivity and differential expression in clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis compared to their expression in a laboratory strain of M. tuberculosis. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the antibody levels in PTB and healthy controls against these peptides.

Methods: An effort was made to evaluate antibody response to peptides derived from proteins Rv2588c, Rv0512, Rv0148, Rv0896, and Rv0635 of M. tuberculosis in PTB patients and healthy individuals through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Five milliliters of venous blood samples was collected from each participant, and serum was separated and stored until use.

Results: Antibody levels against these peptides, Rv2588c, Rv0512, Rv0148, Rv0896. and Rv0635 in 139 PTB patients and 52 healthy controls were evaluated. Higher immune response was observed in PTB patients when compared with healthy individuals. Strong immunoglobulin G responses with high percentage, considerable difference among patients and healthy controls was observed with P < 0.0001.

Conclusion: In our study, we found significant statistical differences in antibody levels in PTB patients and healthy individuals against these peptides. These peptides are suggestive of being a potential new candidate (s) for early diagnosis of TB.