A Functional Role for Antibodies in Tuberculosis

While a third of the world carries the burden of tuberculosis, disease control has been hindered by a lack of tools, including a rapid, point-of-care diagnostic and a protective vaccine. In many infectious diseases, antibodies (Abs) are powerful biomarkers and important immune mediators. However, in...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lu, Lenette L., Chung, Amy W., Rosebrock, Tracy R., Ghebremichael, Musie, Grace, Patricia S., Schoen, Matthew K., Tafesse, Fikadu, Martin, Constance, Leung, Vivian, Mahan, Alison E., Sips, Magdalena, Kumar, Manu P., Tedesco, Jacquelynne, Robinson, Hannah, Tkachenko, Elizabeth, Draghi, Monia, Freedberg, Katherine J., Streeck, Hendrik, Suscovich, Todd J., Restrepo, Blanca I., Day, Cheryl, Fortune, Sarah M., Alter, Galit, Yu, Wen-Han, Lauffenburger, Douglas A
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/117692
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0050-989X
Description
Summary:While a third of the world carries the burden of tuberculosis, disease control has been hindered by a lack of tools, including a rapid, point-of-care diagnostic and a protective vaccine. In many infectious diseases, antibodies (Abs) are powerful biomarkers and important immune mediators. However, in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection, a discriminatory or protective role for humoral immunity remains unclear. Using an unbiased antibody profiling approach, we show that individuals with latent tuberculosis infection (Ltb) and active tuberculosis disease (Atb) have distinct Mtb-specific humoral responses, such that Ltb infection is associated with unique Ab Fc functional profiles, selective binding to FcγRIII, and distinct Ab glycosylation patterns. Moreover, compared to Abs from Atb, Abs from Ltb drove enhanced phagolysosomal maturation, inflammasome activation, and, most importantly, macrophage killing of intracellular Mtb. Combined, these data point to a potential role for Fc-mediated Ab effector functions, tuned via differential glycosylation, in Mtb control.