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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Oct 1.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Microbiol. 2011 Aug 9;19(10):492–500. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2011.07.002

Figure 4. Experimental and epidemiological evidence for the impact of bacterial genotype on TB disease.

Figure 4

(a) ‘Modern’ lineages elicit lower pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g. IL-6) compared to ‘ancient’ lineages in human monocyte-derived macrophages [59]. The inhibition of innate immunity could allow ‘modern’ strains to replicate and establish an infection more efficiently before more efficient immune responses quick in. Inhibition of innate immunity has been associated with increased MTBC virulence in animal models of infection [60, 61]. (b) Strains of the ‘ancient’ Lineage 6, also known as M. africanum, were three times less likely to progress to active TB compared to other MTBC lineages [62].