Clinical and vaccine immunology : CVI
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Clin. Vaccine Immunol. · Dec 2006
Quantitative and functional differences between peripheral blood myeloid dendritic cells from patients with pleural and parenchymal lung tuberculosis.
Dendritic cells (DCs) play a pivotal role in generating protective host immunity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Few studies have addressed DC function in the context of active tuberculosis (TB), largely due to technical constraints in obtaining adequate numbers of DC from sick patients. ⋯ We found that pleural TB was associated with increased IL-12 production and CCR7 expression compared to lung parenchymal disease. Our findings suggest important differences in innate immunity between patients with different forms of active TB, and this may contribute to the differences in natural history observed between the two groups.