Institut de Recherche en Infectiologie de Montpellier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique UMR 9004, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
INSERM, Institut de Recherche en Infectiologie de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
J Infect Dis. 2020 Aug 17;222(6):1046-1050. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiaa187.
Mycobacterium kansasii is a slow-growing nontuberculous mycobacteria responsible for coinfections particularly in patients with human immunodeficiency virus. To date, our knowledge of M. kansasii infection has been hampered owing to the lack of an effective animal model to study pathogenesis. In the current study, we showed that the zebrafish embryo is permissive to M. kansasii infection, resulting in chronic infection and formation of granulomas. On macrophage depletion, we identified M. kansasii forms extracellular cords, resulting in acute infection and rapid larval death. These findings highlight the feasibility of zebrafish for studying M. kansasii pathogenesis and for the first time identify extracellular cords in this species.
堪萨斯分枝杆菌是一种生长缓慢的非结核分枝杆菌，可导致合并感染，尤其在人类免疫缺陷病毒感染者中。迄今为止，由于缺乏有效的动物模型来研究发病机制，我们对堪萨斯分枝杆菌感染的认识受到了阻碍。在本研究中，我们表明斑马鱼胚胎易受堪萨斯分枝杆菌感染，导致慢性感染和肉芽肿形成。在巨噬细胞耗竭时，我们发现堪萨斯分枝杆菌形成细胞外索，导致急性感染和幼鱼迅速死亡。这些发现突出了斑马鱼在研究堪萨斯分枝杆菌发病机制方面的可行性，并首次在该物种中鉴定出细胞外索。
