Brennan Michael J
Aeras, Rockville, Maryland, USA
Infect Immun. 2017 May 23;85(6). doi: 10.1128/IAI.00969-16. Print 2017 Jun.
The genome of , the bacterium responsible for the disease tuberculosis, contains an unusual family of abundant antigens (PE/PPEs). To date, certain members of this multigene family occur only in mycobacteria that cause disease. It is possible that the numerous proteins encoded by these mycobacterial genes dictate the immune pathogenesis of this bacterial pathogen. There is also evidence that some of these antigens are present at the cell surface and that they affect the pathology and immunology of the organism in many ways. Also, they elicit both antibodies and T cells, they may be involved in antigenic variation, and they may be good candidates for vaccines and drugs. However, since they are plentiful and extremely homologous, these PE/PPEs are very challenging to study, and it is difficult to be certain what role(s) they have in the pathogenesis of tuberculosis. Consequently, how to develop treatments like vaccines using these antigens as candidates is complex.
导致结核病的细菌的基因组包含一个不同寻常的丰富抗原家族（PE/PPEs）。迄今为止，这个多基因家族的某些成员仅存在于致病分枝杆菌中。这些分枝杆菌基因编码的众多蛋白质有可能决定了这种细菌病原体的免疫发病机制。也有证据表明其中一些抗原存在于细胞表面，并且它们在许多方面影响生物体的病理学和免疫学。此外，它们既能引发抗体又能引发T细胞，可能参与抗原变异，并且可能是疫苗和药物的良好候选物。然而，由于这些PE/PPEs数量众多且高度同源，对其进行研究极具挑战性，很难确定它们在结核病发病机制中所起的作用。因此，如何将这些抗原作为候选物来开发如疫苗之类的治疗方法很复杂。
