Tuberculosis lymph node granulomas: using transcriptomics to discover immunopathology paradigms and guide host-directed therapy.

Abstract

Immunometabolism is a burgeoning field of investigation in tuberculosis host defense, susceptibility, and pathophysiology. Unbiased approaches to studying tuberculosis have, as expected, confirmed that pathways of immunometabolism are crucial in these disease processes. In this issue of the JCI, Reichmann et al. studied carefully controlled human lymph node tuberculosis and uncovered Sphingosine kinase 1 as a druggable target of interest that could support the infected host. Future host-directed therapy research might seek to establish the different cellular consequences of sphingolipid pathway manipulation. Animal models will be especially useful to establish the role of this pathway, which might target diseased organs to improve mycobactericidal effect and limit pathology.