Department of Clinical Immunology, Institute of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Diagnostics, Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan, China.
Front Immunol. 2021 Apr 1;12:628973. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.628973. eCollection 2021.
Exosomes are cell-derived nanovesicles carrying protein, lipid, and nucleic acid for secreting cells, and act as significant signal transport vectors for cell-cell communication and immune modulation. Immune-cell-derived exosomes have been found to contain molecules involved in immunological pathways, such as MHCII, cytokines, and pathogenic antigens. Tuberculosis (TB), caused by (MTB), remains one of the most fatal infectious diseases. The pathogen for tuberculosis escapes the immune defense and continues to replicate despite rigorous and complicate host cell mechanisms. The infected-cell-derived exosomes under this circumstance are found to trigger different immune responses, such as inflammation, antigen presentation, and activate subsequent pathways, highlighting the critical role of exosomes in anti-MTB immune response. Additionally, as a novel kind of delivery system, exosomes show potential in developing new vaccination and treatment of tuberculosis. We here summarize recent research progress regarding exosomes in the immune environment during MTB infection, and further discuss the potential of exosomes as delivery system for novel anti-MTB vaccines and therapies.
外泌体是由细胞分泌的纳米囊泡，携带蛋白质、脂质和核酸，可作为细胞间通讯和免疫调节的重要信号转导载体。免疫细胞来源的外泌体中含有参与免疫途径的分子，如 MHCII、细胞因子和病原体抗原。结核病（TB）由结核分枝杆菌（MTB）引起，仍是最致命的传染病之一。尽管宿主细胞机制严格且复杂，病原体仍能逃避免疫防御并继续复制。在这种情况下，感染细胞来源的外泌体被发现会引发不同的免疫反应，如炎症、抗原呈递，并激活后续途径，突出了外泌体在抗 MTB 免疫反应中的关键作用。此外，作为一种新型的递药系统，外泌体在开发结核病的新型疫苗和治疗方法方面显示出潜力。我们在这里总结了 MTB 感染期间外泌体在免疫环境中的最新研究进展，并进一步讨论了外泌体作为新型抗 MTB 疫苗和治疗方法的递药系统的潜力。
