A research group studies the mechanism of tuberculosis pathogens to pass from cattle to humans
The work is a good example of the value of the One Health approach when using comparative studies of human and veterinary medicine.
Human tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, kills more than 1.4 million people a year. The animal pathogen of tuberculosis, Mycobacterium Bovis, is a threat to the health and welfare of domestic and wild animals.
Furthermore, M. Bovis is also a risk to human health due to the transmission of the infection from animals to people, especially where there is a closer animal-human interaction or immunosuppressed humans. However, it is still unknown how M. tuberculosis and M. Bovis have evolved to adapt to their respective hosts.
Now, a multidisciplinary team has progressed in understanding how the bacteria that cause tuberculosis in humans and animals manipulate the host's immune system to cause disease. The work, which has been published in the journal PLoS Pathogens, also paves the way for a greater understanding of how pathogens jump the species barrier.
Interaction of human and bovine pathogens
Researchers have studied how human and bovine pathogens interact with cells of the immune system for the past three years, namely macrophages.
They found that only infection of bovine macrophages with M. Bovis resulted in multinucleated giant cells (MNGC), a hallmark symptom of tuberculosis disease. They identified an M. Bovis-specific protein, MPB70, and bovine macrophage extracellular vesicles that are mediators of MNGC formation.
These findings implicate the formation of multinucleated giant cells in the contrasting pathologies between human and bovine bacilli in cattle. The study also reveals how a combination of bacterial factors and species-specific immune responses shape the unique interaction of the pathogen with its host.
Value of the One Health approach
The work has important implications for understanding how pathogens cross the species barrier and adapt to new hosts and is a good example of the value of the One Health approach in employing comparative studies of human and animal pathogens to decipher the mechanisms of diseases. In this sense, Professor Stephen Gordon (University College Dublin) explains that they have used "a One Health approach to compare human and animal tuberculosis pathogens, shedding new light on how these pathogens cause disease and opening new hope for control end of tuberculosis in both humans and animals. "
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