What Immunological Defects Predispose to Non-tuberculosis Mycobacterial Infections?
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are categorized as one of the large and diverse groups of environmental organisms which are abundant in water and soil. NTM cause a variety of diseases in humans that mainly affect the lung. A predisposition to pulmonary NTM is evident in patients with parenchymal structural diseases including bronchiectasis, emphysema, tuberculosis (TB), cystic fibrosis (CF), rheumatologic lung diseases and other chronic diseases with pulmonary manifestations. Lung infections are not the only consequences of being infected by NTM as they can also infect skin and soft tissue and may also cause lymphadenitis (predominantly in young children) and disseminated disease in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients or those with severely compromised immune system. NTM are also found in many subjects without any known risk factors. Although the recent advances in imaging and microbiologic techniques including gene sequencing have provided a better view of the problems caused by NTM and has enhanced our understanding of the disease, many uncertainties regarding the immunologic response to NTM still exist. There is also limited data on the immunogenetics of NTM infection. Here, the authors reviewed the main immunogenetic defects as well as other immunological conditions which are associated with an increased the risk of NTM infections.
Date Issued
2018-04-01
Date Acceptance
2017-11-15
Citation
Iranian Journal Of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, 2018, 17 (2), pp.100-109
ISSN
1735-1502
Publisher
Tehran University of Medical Sciences
Start Page
100
End Page
109
Journal / Book Title
Iranian Journal Of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology
Volume
17
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© April 2018, Iran J Allergy Asthma Immunol. All rights reserved. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences (http://ijaai.tums.ac.ir). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License which allows users to read, copy, distribute and make derivative works for non-commercial purposes from the material, as long as the author of the original work is cited properly.
Sponsor
Wellcome Trust
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29757583
Grant Number
093080/Z/10/Z
Subjects
Immunodeficiency
Interferon
Interleukin-12
Lung disease
Non-tuberculous mycobacteria
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
Iran