Molecular Interplay between Vitamin D and Immunity can Aid Antitubercular Treatment Vitamin D in Immunomodulation of TB

Tuberculosis (TB) causes maximum mortality and morbidity worldwide. 25 per cent of the global population harbour Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and therefore are at risk of developing active disease. Of late, the disseminated diseases of TB are on the increase. Nearly one-third of all TB infections can be classified as extrapulmonary-TB (EPTB). TB can spread to the bone, brain, intestine, peritoneum, genitourinary system, and female genital sites leading to problems of conception. Therefore undoubtedly, TB has turned out to be a tremendous public health problem globally. The emergence of drug-resistant bacteria calls for new anti-tuberculous drugs to enhance response to antimicrobial therapy for active TB. However, discoveries of very effective anti-TB new medicines have not materialised yet. Thus, nutritional anti-TB intervention is highly important. In the pre-antibiotic era, Vitamin D was used for the treatment of TB. Its active component 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D3 was shown to display anti-TB activity in vitro. Vitamin D deficient humans display greater susceptibility to TB. Vitamin D deficiency induces worse disease progression in TB cases as observed in many clinical trials. The efficacy of the addition of vitamin D supplements in TB treatment has also been estimated. Thus, by now, the role of vitamin D in TB prevention and treatment is well established. Knowledge of the molecular mechanism of vitamin D is crucially vital for new anti-TB drug design. This review article discusses the recent advancement regarding the molecular mechanism of vitamin D-related anti-TB action. Further elucidation of this area may help novel anti-TB drug development

Screening of Aeromonads as associated pathogens from Non-Tuberculous Mycobacterial infections in the aquaculture industry, West Bengal, India

The disease termed as ‘Ulcerative disease’ or ‘Erythematous disease’ is found in fishes and fish handlers and is caused by a group of waterborne Mycobacterium spp. called non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). The wounds are frequently invaded by secondary pathogens like Aeromonas spp. which is ubiquitous in nature. NTMs are free-living bacterium inhabiting water bodies, causing skin lesions in fish and fish handlers. The secondary invaders are natural inhabitants and are found in excess due to anthropogenic pollution in aquatic environments affecting the fishes and human subjects as low-level latent infectants in wounds caused by NTM. This study highlights the various aspects mycobacteriosis followed by secondary infection and hemorrhagic septicemia caused by Aeromonas spp. in the state of West Bengal (WB), India. NTM and Aeromonas spp. samples were examined from different districts of WB. In the case of Fish handlers, NTM infection as well as Aeromonas spp. infected wounds were highly significant (correlation coefficient (ρ) 0.859, p<0.01). Ulcerative fishes predominant with NTMs were significantly higher in the total samples studied (correlation coefficient 0.718, p<0.01) than the fishes infected with both Aeromonas spp. and NTM (ρ 0.188, p< 0.5). Systematic reporting of mycobacteriosis and associated pathogens studied here will help to improvise the drug regimes used in culture-based fisheries systems

Importance and Implementation Strategies of Systems Medicine Education in India

Though the inevitable outcome of Systems Biology (SB) may be directed to seek answers to the medical problems; however, due to its expanding horizon and flexibility, different academic institutions across the globe focus on different aspects of SB in their educational curriculum. Hence, some European educationists propose for streamlining of different course curriculum. Here such issues are discussed with respect to their translation towards medicine and health care system i.e., Systems Medicine (SM) under the perspectives of developing countries. Conventional molecule centric highthroughput technology driven practices of SB that are being carried out in Western world may not fit under the perspective of developing countries due to associated high cost. Streamlining approach for SB course curriculum would shift the multi-/interdisciplinary (MDID) framework of SB towards more rigidity and narrow down the scope for the development of the subject in developing countries. Since independence of India, policy was adopted so that field dependent (FD) cognition has got priority.Present educational policy makers are trained with that direction; hence, they remain ignorant about the importance of other facets of education. Still there is some unawareness regarding the long-term effect about the implemented policy for country’s development. Practice of SM is the need of time to address the regional and local problems. Development of domain knowledge and analytical methods should be prioritized for developing countries. This would invariably take an initiative towards further development of computational methods, information and web technology and automation; thereby its vastness and expanding horizons would be appreciated. Such activities may also shift the existing health care paradigm in near future. Learning process and education on SM through research could be the ideal path for the development of the subject. This, in turn, may blur the demarcating lines across and between the far disciplines and make a paradigm shift in the educational system across the globe.</p

Interferon-Gamma in Natural Defence and Prevention of Leprosy

Mycobacterium leprae causes leprosy. M. leprae enters the body through the upper respiratory tract where it interacts with host’s cells. Interferon (IFN) is a class of cytokines in human body that are released in case of viral and intracellular pathogen infection and they activate the immune cells to eradicate those pathogens. IFN-γ (Type-II IFN) confers immunity against bacterial, viral, and protozoan diseases. Loss of function mutations in IFN-γ results in poor immunity towards mildly virulent mycobacterium. Upon M. leprae invasion, monocytes enter the site of infection and differentiates into macrophages. IFN-γ induces endothelial cells (EC) of the pathogenic micro-environment to cause monocyte differentiation into pro-inflammatory M1 macrophages for immediate antimicrobial activity. This differentiation is ceased in the absence of endothelial cells. M1 macrophages are clinically more active than anti-inflammatory M2 macrophages induced by resting EC. The former produced higher amounts of pro-inflammatory cytokines in response to the TLR2/1 ligand of M. leprae. The former also showed elevation of vitamin D-associated antimicrobial pathway genes, which are required to counter M. leprae. In addition, the former accumulates less oxidised LDL to prevent growth of M. leprae. Thus, advancement of IFN-γ research would help in the design of next-generation anti- leprosy therapeutics