Natural transmission of Plasmodium berghei exacerbates chronic tuberculosis in an experimental co-infection model.
Human populations are rarely exposed to one pathogen alone. Particularly in high incidence regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, concurrent infections with more than one pathogen represent a widely underappreciated public health problem. Two of the world's most notorious killers, malaria and tube...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2012-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0048110&type=printable |
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| Summary: | Human populations are rarely exposed to one pathogen alone. Particularly in high incidence regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, concurrent infections with more than one pathogen represent a widely underappreciated public health problem. Two of the world's most notorious killers, malaria and tuberculosis, are co-endemic in impoverished populations in the tropics. However, interactions between both infections in a co-infected individual have not been studied in detail. Both pathogens have a major impact on the lung as the prime target organ for aerogenic Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the site for one of the main complications in severe malaria, malaria-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (MA-ARDS). In order to study the ramifications caused by both infections within the same host we established an experimental mouse model of co-infection between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Plasmodium berghei NK65, a recently described model for MA-ARDS. Our study provides evidence that malaria-induced immune responses impair host resistance to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Using the natural routes of infection, we observed that co-infection exacerbated chronic tuberculosis while rendering mice less refractory to Plasmodium. Co-infected animals presented with enhanced inflammatory immune responses as reflected by exacerbated leukocyte infiltrates, tissue pathology and hypercytokinemia accompanied by altered T-cell responses. Our results--demonstrating striking changes in the immune regulation by co-infection with Plasmodium and Mycobacterium--are highly relevant for the medical management of both infections in humans. |
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| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |