Macrophages are necessary to eliminate pathogens. However, some pathogens have developed mechanisms to avoid the immune response. One of them is modulating the cell death mechanism to favor pathogen survival. In this study, we evaluated... more
Macrophages are necessary to eliminate pathogens. However, some pathogens have developed mechanisms to avoid the immune response. One of them is modulating the cell death mechanism to favor pathogen survival. In this study, we evaluated if virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) can simultaneously activate more than one cell death mechanism. We infected human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) in vitro with avirulent (H37Ra) and virulent (H37Rv) strains, and then we measured molecules involved in apoptosis, necroptosis, and pyroptosis. Our data showed that H37Rv infection increased the BCL-2 transcript and protein, decreased the BAX transcript, and increased phosphorylated BCL-2 at the protein level. Moreover, H37Rv infection increased the expression of the molecules involved in the necroptotic pathway, such as ASK1, p-38, RIPK1, RIPK3, and caspase-8, while H37Ra increased caspase-8 and decreased RIPK3 at the transcriptional level. In addition, NLRP3 and CASP1 expression was inc...
