Can the battle against tuberculosis gain from epigenetic research?

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• 作者：Maria M. Esterhuyse¹ ; Heinz G. Linhart² ; Stefan H.E. Kaufmann¹ ; ^{kaufmann@mpiib-berlin.mpg.de}
• 关键词：epigenetics ; DNA methylation ; tuberculosis ; biomarkers
• 刊名：Trends in Microbiology
• 出版年：2012
• 期刊代码：258_0966842x
• 类别：med
• 出版时间：May, 2012
• 卷：20
• 期：5
• 页码：220-226
• 文件大小：574 K

摘要

A healthy immune system needs to be highly plastic to cope with host defense and surveillance. What mechanisms provide this plasticity? Considering the threat of infectious diseases to a large part of the world's population, can these mechanisms possibly be of use in the ongoing battle against infectious diseases? Against the backdrop of the pandemic nature of tuberculosis, we discuss whether and how epigenetic mechanisms can shed light on our understanding of infectious disease, and if epigenetic marks can be employed to monitor latent infection, disease reactivation or treatment response.