The Role of Gut and Lung Microbiota in Susceptibility to Tuberculosis

Pasquale Comberiati, Maria Di Cicco, Francesco Paravati, Umberto Pelosi, Alessandro Di Gangi, Stefania Arasi, Simona Barni, Davide Caimmi, Carla Mastrorilli, Amelia Licari and Fernanda Chiera
Additional contact information
Pasquale Comberiati: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Maria Di Cicco: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Francesco Paravati: Department of Pediatrics, San Giovanni di Dio Hospital, 88900 Crotone, Italy
Umberto Pelosi: Pediatric Unit, Santa Barbara Hospital, 09016 Iglesias, Italy
Alessandro Di Gangi: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Stefania Arasi: Area of Translational Research in Pediatric Specialities, Allergy Unit, Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, IRCCS, 00165 Rome, Italy
Simona Barni: Allergic Unit, Department of Pediatric, Meyer Children’s Hospital, 50139 Florence, Italy
Davide Caimmi: Allergy Unit, CHU de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier, 34295 Montpellier, France
Carla Mastrorilli: Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital Consortium Corporation Polyclinic of Bari, Pediatric Hospital Giovanni XXIII, 70124 Bari, Italy
Amelia Licari: Pediatric Clinic, Pediatrics Department, Policlinico San Matteo, University of Pavia, 27100 Pavia, Italy
Fernanda Chiera: Department of Pediatrics, San Giovanni di Dio Hospital, 88900 Crotone, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 22, 1-20

Abstract: Tuberculosis is one of the most common infectious diseases and infectious causes of death worldwide. Over the last decades, significant research effort has been directed towards defining the understanding of the pathogenesis of tuberculosis to improve diagnosis and therapeutic options. Emerging scientific evidence indicates a possible role of the human microbiota in the pathophysiology of tuberculosis, response to therapy, clinical outcomes, and post-treatment outcomes. Although human studies on the role of the microbiota in tuberculosis are limited, published data in recent years, both from experimental and clinical studies, suggest that a better understanding of the gut–lung microbiome axis and microbiome–immune crosstalk could shed light on the specific pathogenetic mechanisms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and identify new therapeutic targets. In this review, we address the current knowledge of the host immune responses against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, the emerging evidence on how gut and lung microbiota can modulate susceptibility to tuberculosis, the available studies on the possible use of probiotic–antibiotic combination therapy for the treatment of tuberculosis, and the knowledge gaps and future research priorities in this field.

Keywords: children; gut; infection; lung; microbiota; microbiome; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; tuberculosis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/22/12220/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/22/12220/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:22:p:12220-:d:684183

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().