The purpose of this study is to assess lung immune responses in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and in healthy control persons who are exposed to Mycobacterium tuberculosis in households of patients with TB or who are unexposed.
BACKGROUND: M. tuberculosis infects a third of the world's population, and TB is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality due to a single infectious agent. However, only 5% to 10% of M. tuberculosis-infected subjects without an underlying immunodeficiency develop disease during their lifetimes. Therefore protective immunity is induced in the majority of subjects. Understanding correlates of protection against M. tuberculosis in humans is needed to better direct efforts in the development of antituberculosis vaccines. DESIGN NARRATIVE: Patients are treated according to good clinical practice; however, no study medications are given as part of the research study. This study involves a one-time bronchoalveolar lavage and venipuncture to obtain immune cells for laboratory studies of immune responses.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
40
UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School
Newark, New Jersey, United States
Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias (INER)
Mexico City, Mexico
Pulmonary immune responses associated with resistance and susceptibility to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (measured at baseline)
Time frame: one week
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