Immunologic, metabolic and genetic impact of diabetes on tuberculosis susceptibility

Phillip Ssekamatte; Obondo James Sande; Reinout van Crevel; Irene Andia Biraro

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1122255

Immunologic, metabolic and genetic impact of diabetes on tuberculosis susceptibility

Front Immunol. 2023 Jan 23:14:1122255. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1122255. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Phillip Ssekamatte¹, Obondo James Sande¹, Reinout van Crevel², Irene Andia Biraro³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Immunology and Molecular Biology, School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.
² Department of Internal Medicine and Radboud Centre for Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
³ Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Abstract

Due to the increasing prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) globally, the interaction between DM and major global diseases like tuberculosis (TB) is of great public health significance, with evidence of DM having about a three-fold risk for TB disease. TB defense may be impacted by diabetes-related effects on immunity, metabolism, and gene transcription. An update on the epidemiological aspects of DM and TB, and the recent trends in understanding the DM-associated immunologic, metabolic, and genetic mechanisms of susceptibility to TB will be discussed in this review. This review highlights gaps in the incomplete understanding of the mechanisms that may relate to TB susceptibility in type 2 DM (T2DM). Understanding these three main domains regarding mechanisms of TB susceptibility in T2DM patients can help us build practical treatment plans to lessen the combined burden of the diseases in rampant areas.

Keywords: diabetes; gene transcription; immunity; metabolism; tuberculosis.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2* / epidemiology
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2* / genetics
Humans
Prevalence
Tuberculosis* / epidemiology
Tuberculosis* / genetics

Grants and funding

This project is part of the EDCTP2 programme supported by the European Union (grant number RIA2018CO-2514-PROTID), the Government of Uganda through the Uganda Independence Scholarship Trust Fund (UISTF) and the MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit which is jointly funded by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) under the MRC/FCDO Concordat agreement and is also part of the EDCTP2 programme supported by the European Union.