AUTHOR=Flores-Gonzalez Julio , Urbán-Solano Alexia , Ramón-Luing Lucero A. , Cancino-Diaz Juan Carlos , Contreras-Rodriguez Araceli , Curiel-Quesada Everardo , Hernández-Pando Rogelio , Chavez-Galan Leslie 

TITLE=Active tuberculosis patients have high systemic IgG levels and B-cell fingerprinting, characterized by a reduced capacity to produce IFN-γ or IL-10 as a response to M.tb antigens

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Immunology

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1263458

DOI=10.3389/fimmu.2023.1263458

ISSN=1664-3224

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection caused by <italic>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</italic> (<italic>M.tb</italic>). B cells are the central mediator of the humoral response; they are responsible for producing antibodies in addition to mediating other functions. The role of the cellular response during the TB spectrum by B cells is still controversial.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>In this study, we evaluated the distribution of the circulating B cell subsets in patients with active and latent TB (ATB and LTB, respectively) and how they respond to stimuli of protein or lipid from <italic>M.tb.</italic></p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Here, we show that ATB patients show an immune fingerprinting. However, patients with drug-sensitive- (DS-TB) or drug-resistant- (DR-TB) TB have altered frequencies of circulating B cells. DS-TB and DR-TB display a unique profile characterized by high systemic levels of IFN-γ, IL-10, IgG, IgG/IgM ratio, and total B cells. Moreover, B cells from DR-TB are less efficient in producing IL-10, and both DS-TB and DR-TB produce less IFN-γ in response to <italic>M.tb</italic> antigens.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>These results provide new insights into the population dynamics of the cellular immune response by B cells against <italic>M.tb</italic> and suggest a fingerprinting to characterize the B-cell response on DR-TB.</p></sec>