REVIEW article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Antibiotic Resistance and New Antimicrobial drugs
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1582037
This article is part of the Research TopicDeciphering Antimicrobial Resistance: Genetic Insights and PerspectivesView all 5 articles
Deciphering Tuberculosis: Lysosome-Centric Insights into Pathogenesis and Therapies
Provisionally accepted- Second Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
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Tuberculosis is a widely spread disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). The pathogenicity of the pathogen is closely associated with the immune defense mechanisms of the host cells. As key cellular degradation and metabolic centers, lysosomes critically regulate tuberculosis infection. When Mtb invades the host, it is taken up by macrophages and enters phagosomes. Subsequently, the phagosomes fuse with lysosomes and form phagolysosomes, which eliminate the pathogenic bacteria through the acidic environment and hydrolytic enzymes within lysosomes. However, Mtb can interfere with the normal functions of lysosomes through various strategies. It can secrete specific factors (such as ESAT-6, ppk-1, AcpM, et al) to inhibit the acidification of lysosomes, enzyme activity, and the fusion of phagosomes and lysosomes, thereby enabling Mtb proliferation within host cells. An in-depth exploration of the mechanism of the interaction between Mtb and lysosomes will both uncover bacterial immune evasion strategies and identify novel anti-tuberculosis therapeutic targets.
Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), Lysosomes, Interaction, Mechanism, Treatment
Received: 23 Feb 2025; Accepted: 17 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Feng, Bao, zhang, Feng, Hong and Gao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ganzhu Feng, Second Affiliated Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
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