Khanyisile Kgoadi - IUIS Beijing ICI 2019 Presentation
Khanyisile Kgoadi - Recruited brain conventional dendritic cells and T cells promote protection against CNS-TB
Central nervous system tuberculosis (CNS-TB) is a severe form of TB that primarily develops in children and immunocompromised adults and its associated with high morbidity and mortality. Mice were that were intracerebrally infected with H37Rv (Mtb) showed a higher degree of inflammation than saline control mice. Bacterial burdens in the brain were controlled during infection. Dendritic cells (DCs), which are antigen presenting cells were recruited to the brain during CNS-TB. These DCs were functionally mature and produced antimycobacterial pro-inflammatory cytokines. Meanwhile, activated CD4+ and CD8+ T cells that infiltrated the brain showed Th1 immune responses. This suggests that DCs together with T cells contributed to anti-tuberculosis immune responses during CNS-TB and that DCs are potential targets for strategic therapeutic intervention.