For Host Factors Weddings and a Koch’s Bacillus Funeral: Actin, Lipids, Phagosome Maturation and Inflammasome Activation

Abstract

The most intriguing property of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is its ability to remain for years in the host tissue, in a discrete and non-replicative way, reactivating and causing disease. This skill has stimulated multiple studies to try to discern why the host is not able to effectively eradicate it, instead of “tolerating” its persistence in the tissues. In this book, different specialists dissect the different factors and cells implied in the natural and adaptive immune response against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in an attempt to understand the extent to which the bacilli has adapted itself to the host and to its final target. On the other hand, there is a section in which other specialists discuss how to manipulate this immune response to obtain innovative prophylactic and therapeutic approaches to truncate the intimal co-evolution between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the Homo sapiens.