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Title
A murine model of tuberculosis/type 2 diabetes comorbidity for investigating the microbiome, metabolome and associated immune parameters
Author(s)
Publication Date
2021-06
Early Online Version
Open Access
Yes
Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the world. The metabolic disease type 2 diabetes (T2D) significantly increases the risk of developing active TB. Effective new TB vaccine candidates and novel therapeutic interventions are required to meet the challenges of global TB eradication. Recent evidence suggests that the microbiota plays a significant role in how the host responds to infection, injury and neoplastic changes. Animal models that closely reflect human physiology are crucial in assessing new treatments and to decipher the underlying immunological defects responsible for increased TB susceptibility in comorbid patients. In this study, using a diet-induced murine T2D model that reflects the etiopathogenesis of clinical T2D and increased TB susceptibility, we investigated how the intestinal microbiota may impact the development of T2D, and how the gut microbial composition changes following a very low-dose aerosol infection with <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i> (<i>Mtb</i>). Our data revealed a substantial intestinal microbiota dysbiosis in T2D mice compared to non-diabetic animals. The observed differences were comparable to previous clinical reports in TB patients, in which it was shown that <i>Mtb</i> infection causes rapid loss of microbial diversity. Furthermore, diversity index and principle component analyses demonstrated distinct clustering of <i>Mtb</i>-infected non-diabetic mice vs. <i>Mtb</i>-infected T2D mice. Our findings support a broad applicability of T2D mice as a tractable small animal model for studying distinct immune parameters, microbiota and the immune-metabolome of TB/T2D comorbidity. This model may also enable answers to be found to critical outstanding questions about targeted interventions of the gut microbiota and the gut-lung axis.
Publication Type
Journal Article
Source of Publication
Animal Models and Experimental Medicine, 4(2), p. 181-188
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020
2021-03-23
Place of Publication
United States of America
ISSN
2576-2095
2096-5451
File(s) openpublished/AMurineKetheesan2021JournalArticle.pdf (1.66 MB)
Published version
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020
Peer Reviewed
Yes
HERDC Category Description
Peer Reviewed
Yes
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