Clinical isolates of the modern Mycobacterium tuberculosis lineage 4 evade host defense in human macrophages through eluding IL-1β-induced autophagy.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), has infected over 1.7 billion people worldwide and causes 1.4 million deaths annually.

Evaluation of PE_PGRS33 as a potential surface target for humoral responses against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) PE_PGRS33 is a surface-exposed protein that was shown to interact with Toll-like receptor 2 on host macrophages to induce inflammatory signals and promote entry in macrophages. In this study, we investigated PE_PGRS33 as a potential target of a humoral response aimed at hampering key processes in tuberculosis pathogenesis. PE_PGRS33 protein was successfully expressed and purified under native condition in Escherichia coli.

Impact of Gene Polymorphisms on Infection and Pathogenesis.

PE_PGRS33 is a surface-exposed protein of () which exerts its role in macrophages entry and immunomodulation. In this study, we aimed to investigate the polymorphisms in the gene of clinical isolates and evaluate their impact on protein functions. We sequenced in a collection of 135 clinical strains, genotyped by 15-loci MIRU-VNTR and spoligotyping and belonging to the complex (MTBC).

PE_PGRS33 Contributes to Mycobacterium tuberculosis Entry in Macrophages through Interaction with TLR2.

PE_PGRS represent a large family of proteins typical of pathogenic mycobacteria whose members are characterized by an N-terminal PE domain followed by a large Gly-Ala repeat-rich C-terminal domain. Despite the abundance of PE_PGRS-coding genes in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) genome their role and function in the biology and pathogenesis still remains elusive. In this study, we generated and characterized an Mtb H37Rv mutant (MtbΔ33) in which the structural gene of PE_PGRS33, a prototypical member of the protein family, was inactivated.

Impact of protein domains on PE_PGRS30 polar localization in Mycobacteria.

PE_PGRS proteins are unique to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and a number of other pathogenic mycobacteria. PE_PGRS30, which is required for the full virulence of M. tuberculosis (Mtb), has three main domains, i.