PLoS ONE (Jan 2018)

Adjunct antibody administration with standard treatment reduces relapse rates in a murine tuberculosis model of necrotic granulomas.

  • Alvaro A Ordonez,
  • Supriya Pokkali,
  • Sunhwa Kim,
  • Brian Carr,
  • Mariah H Klunk,
  • Leah Tong,
  • Vikram Saini,
  • Yong S Chang,
  • Matthew McKevitt,
  • Victoria Smith,
  • David L Gossage,
  • Sanjay K Jain

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197474
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 5
p. e0197474

Abstract

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Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 is a zinc-dependent protease associated with early immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, macrophage recruitment and granuloma formation. We evaluated whether adjunctive inhibition of MMP-9 could improve the response to standard TB treatment in a mouse model that develops necrotic lesions. Six weeks after an aerosol infection with M. tuberculosis, C3HeB/FeJ mice received standard TB treatment (12 weeks) comprising rifampin, isoniazid and pyrazinamide alone or in combination with either anti-MMP-9 antibody, etanercept (positive control) or isotype antibody (negative control) for 6 weeks. Anti-MMP-9 and the isotype control had comparable high serum exposures and expected terminal half-life. The relapse rate in mice receiving standard TB treatment was 46.6%. Compared to the standard TB treatment, relapse rates in animals that received adjunctive treatments with anti-MMP-9 antibody or etanercept were significantly decreased to 25.9% (P = 0.006) and 29.8% (P = 0.019) respectively, but were not different from the arm that received the isotype control antibody (25.9%). Immunostaining demonstrated localization of MMP-9 primarily in macrophages in both murine and human lung tissues infected with M. tuberculosis, suggesting the importance of MMP-9 in TB pathogenesis. These data suggest that the relapse rates in M. tuberculosis-infected mice may be non-specifically improved by administration of antibodies in conjunction with standard TB treatments. Future studies are needed to evaluate the mechanism(s) leading to improved outcomes with adjunctive antibody treatments.