Communications Biology (Nov 2021)
Aggregation state of Mycobacterium tuberculosis impacts host immunity and augments pulmonary disease pathology
Abstract
Kolloli et al. examine whether aggregation contributes to enhanced pathogenicity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a rabbit model of pulmonary infection. They demonstrate that aggregation increases the ability of M. tuberculosis to grow robustly and promote inflammation and host cell death in the rabbit lungs, thus increasing disease burden.