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A Forsyth Institute research team
found latent TB bacteria concealed in “bone and cartilage-forming stem cells in
bone marrow” where the bacteria can evade immune system activity and
antibiotics that would normally kill them. This ability to hide from treatment
by lying dormant in bone marrow stem cells could explain how TB is able to
persist for years and recur, according to the Forsyth team, which is composed
of stem cell specialists and infectious disease researchers from Stanford
University School of Medicine, Cambridge University, and India.
The study first demonstrated that it
was possible to infect bone marrow stem cells with TB in the laboratory. The
researchers then infected mice with TB bacteria engineered to stay dormant
until activated by a drug. When they tested the mice, the team found dormant TB
bacteria in both the lungs and bone marrow stem cells. The team was also able
to grow TB bacteria from bone marrow stem cells harvested from nine
people—thought to be long cured of TB—in a remote village in India.
The Forsyth study does not provide
definitive proof that the bone marrow stem cells are the TB bacteria’s hiding
place. Other theories suggest TB bacteria can persist in a “zombie-like” state
that enables the bacteria to resist treatment and then reactivate later.
However, the study does contribute to researchers’ understanding of TB’s latent
phase and could point to how new treatments might target TB bacteria hiding in
the safe harbor of the bone marrow stem cells. Latent infections comprise 90
percent of the world’s 2.2 billion TB cases.
The full report, “CD271+ Bone Marrow
Mesenchymal Stem Cells May Provide a Niche for Dormant Mycobacterium
Tuberculosis,” was published online in the journal Science Translational
Medicine: Integrating Medicine and Science (2013; doi:
10.1126/scitranslmed.3004912).
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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