Tuberculosis (TB), a global and deadly
infectious disease caused by
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), is manifested with host immune reaction. The balanced
regulation between protective immune and pathologic inflammatory responses is critical to control progression to TB.
Chemokines are a large
family of
cytokines that
play an essential
role for
chemotaxis of immune and inflammatory
cells to the sites of
infection. Numerous
chemokines including CXCL10 were reported as potential
biomarkers of various stages of TB
infection. In addition, several
chemokines and their receptors
play as key players to coordinate host immune defense as innate effectors and mediators of adaptive
immune responses.Accumulating evidence suggests that some
chemokines, if uncontrolled, are associated with host pathological
inflammation during
infection. In this
review, we
will discuss recent advances in
understanding which
chemokines have potentials as diagnostic markers. In addition, we focus the
roles and mechanisms by which
chemokines and their receptors are involved in both host immune
protection and
pathology during TB
infection. The controlled activation of
chemokine system
will determine the coordinated
biological outcomes of
innate immune responses during pathogenic
infection.