Undernutrition is associated with perturbations in T cell-, B cell-, monocyte- and dendritic cell- subsets in latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 14; no. 12; p. e0225611
• Main Authors: Rajamanickam, Anuradha, Munisankar, Saravanan, Dolla, Chandra Kumar, Babu, Subash
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 10-12-2019; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Animal models; B cells; B-Lymphocytes - immunology; Biology and Life Sciences; Body mass; Body Mass Index; Body size; CD4 antigen; CD8 antigen; Cell adhesion & migration; Cell culture; Dendritic cells; Dendritic Cells - immunology; Development and progression; Diabetes; Disease; Disease Progression; Disease Susceptibility - epidemiology; Disease Susceptibility - immunology; Female; Health aspects; Humans; Immune system; Immunity, Cellular; Immunity, Innate; Immunological memory; Immunology; Immunoregulation; India - epidemiology; Infections; Killer cells; Latent Tuberculosis - blood; Latent Tuberculosis - immunology; Latent Tuberculosis - microbiology; Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes B; Lymphocytes T; Male; Malnutrition - blood; Malnutrition - epidemiology; Malnutrition - immunology; Medical equipment industry; Medicine and Health Sciences; Memory cells; Middle Aged; Monocytes; Monocytes - immunology; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Mycobacterium tuberculosis - immunology; Natural killer cells; Plasma cells; Population; Research and Analysis Methods; Risk analysis; Risk Factors; Rural Population - statistics & numerical data; Suppressor cells; T cells; T-Lymphocytes - immunology; Tuberculosis; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - epidemiology; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - immunology; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary - microbiology; Undernutrition; Young Adult; India; United States
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0225611

Undernutrition, as described by low body mass index (BMI), is a foremost risk factor for the progression of active Tuberculosis (TB). Undernutrition is also known to impact the baseline frequencies of innate and adaptive immune cells in animal models. To verify whether undernutrition has any influence on the baseline frequencies of immune cells in latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (LTBI), we examined the frequencies of T cell-, B cell, monocyte- and dendritic cell (DC)- subsets in individuals with LTBI and low BMI (LBMI) and contrasted them with LTBI and normal BMI (NBMI) groups. LBMI was characterized by decreased frequencies and absolute cell counts of T cells, B cells and NK cells in comparison with NBMI. LBMI individuals demonstrated significantly enhanced frequencies of naïve and effector CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and significantly decreased frequencies of central memory, effector memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and regulatory T cells. Among B cell subsets, LBMI individuals demonstrated significantly diminished frequencies of naïve, immature, classical memory, activated memory, atypical memory and plasma cells. In addition, LBMI individuals showed significantly decreased frequencies of classical monocytes, myeloid DCs and plasmacytoid DCs and significantly increased frequencies of intermediate and non-classical monocytes and myeloid derived suppressor cells. BMI exhibited a positive correlation with B cell and NK cell counts. Our data, therefore, demonstrates that coexistent undernutrition in LTBI is characterized by the occurrence of a significant modulation in the frequency of innate and adaptive immune cell subsets.