M. tuberculosis T Cell Epitope Analysis Reveals Paucity of Antigenic Variation and Identifies Rare Variable TB Antigens

• Published in: Cell host & microbe Vol. 18; no. 5; pp. 538 - 548
• Main Authors: Coscolla, Mireia, Copin, Richard, Sutherland, Jayne, Gehre, Florian, de Jong, Bouke, Owolabi, Olumuiya, Mbayo, Georgetta, Giardina, Federica, Ernst, Joel D., Gagneux, Sebastien
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 11.11.2015
• Subjects: Antigenic Variation; Antigens, Bacterial - genetics; Antigens, Bacterial - immunology; Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte - genetics; Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte - immunology; Genetic Variation; Genome, Bacterial; Humans; Immune Evasion; Mycobacterium tuberculosis - classification; Mycobacterium tuberculosis - genetics; Mycobacterium tuberculosis - immunology; Phylogeny; Tuberculosis - immunology; Tuberculosis - microbiology

Pathogens that evade adaptive immunity typically exhibit antigenic variation. By contrast, it appears that although the chronic human tuberculosis (TB)-causing pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis needs to counter host T cell responses, its T cell epitopes are hyperconserved. Here we present an exten...