Active tuberculosis patients have high systemic IgG levels and B-cell fingerprinting, characterized by a reduced capacity to produce IFN-γ or IL-10 as a response to antigens.

INTRODUCTION

Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection caused by (). B cells are the central mediator of the humoral response; they are responsible for producing antibodies in addition to mediating other functions. The role of the cellular response during the TB spectrum by B cells is still controversial.

METHODS

In this study, we evaluated the distribution of the circulating B cell subsets in patients with active and latent TB (ATB and LTB, respectively) and how they respond to stimuli of protein or lipid from

RESULTS

Here, we show that ATB patients show an immune fingerprinting. However, patients with drug-sensitive- (DS-TB) or drug-resistant- (DR-TB) TB have altered frequencies of circulating B cells. DS-TB and DR-TB display a unique profile characterized by high systemic levels of IFN-γ, IL-10, IgG, IgG/IgM ratio, and total B cells. Moreover, B cells from DR-TB are less efficient in producing IL-10, and both DS-TB and DR-TB produce less IFN-γ in response to antigens.

CONCLUSION

These results provide new insights into the population dynamics of the cellular immune response by B cells against and suggest a fingerprinting to characterize the B-cell response on DR-TB.

Copyright © 2023 Flores-Gonzalez, Urbán-Solano, Ramón-Luing, Cancino-Diaz, Contreras-Rodriguez, Curiel-Quesada, Hernández-Pando and Chavez-Galan.