Tuberculosis and Lung Damage: from Epidemiology to Pathophysiology

Overview

Journal Eur Respir Rev

Specialty Pulmonary Medicine

Date 2018 Mar 2

PMID 29491034

Citations 189

Authors

Shruthi Ravimohan

Hardy Kornfeld

Drew Weissman

Gregory P Bisson

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

A past history of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is a risk factor for long-term respiratory impairment. Post-TB lung dysfunction often goes unrecognised, despite its relatively high prevalence and its association with reduced quality of life. Importantly, specific host and pathogen factors causing lung impairment remain unclear. Host immune responses probably play a dominant role in lung damage, as excessive inflammation and elevated expression of lung matrix-degrading proteases are common during TB. Variability in host genes that modulate these immune responses may determine the severity of lung impairment, but this hypothesis remains largely untested. In this review, we provide an overview of the epidemiological literature on post-TB lung impairment and link it to data on the pathogenesis of lung injury from the perspective of dysregulated immune responses and immunogenetics.

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