Alteraciones en fagocitos mononucleares: un viraje al significado de la muerte de monocitos y macrófagos en la inmunopatogénesis de la tuberculosis

Abstract

Mononuclear phagocytes, particularly monocytes and macrophages, have been considered the primary targets of infection by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and, at the same time, the main effector cells and reservoirs of mycobacteria. The heterogeneity of these cells and their plasticity, make diverse and complex the responses against the infection. The differences in mononuclear phagocytes responses in animals, the expression of genes associated with natural resistance to infection, and the discrepancy between circulating monocytes from patients with tuberculosis and healthy controls in the expression of CD14, CD36 and HLA-DR, and cell death, have suggested changes in the distribution of monocyte subpopulations or in their state of maturity.In humans, subpopulations of peripheral blood monocytes were defined according to the expression of surface molecules CD14 and CD16. There are two main types of monocytes, a group with high expression of CD14 that does not express CD16 (CD14+CD16-) and others with low expression of CD14, expressing CD16 (CD14+CD16+). In tuberculosis patients there are alterations in the counts of these subpopulations, which lead us to consider that these alterations could be capital phenomenon to understand the immunopathogenesis of this disease.