Mini Review
Wei T, Li F, Huang Q, Bao F an
Abstract
Setting: Macrophage models create an environment for the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and can be applied to studies on the intracellular pathogen. Objective: To review macrophage models for tuberculosis studies in terms of the cell sources and applications. Methods: The online English database PubMed, Chinese databases such as CNKI, SinoMed, and Wanfang were searched up to December 2010 for published articles. Two groups of terms were used for the information retrieval, one of which includes macrophage model, macrophages model, macrophage models, macrophages models, macrophage, and macrophages; the other group of terms comprises Mycobacterium tuberculosis. For PubMed, the two groups of English terms were applied, while for the Chinese databases, related Chinese terms were used. Results: Cell sources of macrophage models include murine bone marrows, human peripheral blood, human lungs, and cell lines. The screened antituberculosis drugs are Western drugs such as ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin, and traditional Chinese medications like pittosporum brevicalyx (oliv.) gagnep and ranunculus ternatus thunb. The regulation of SigB and SigF was described in the pathogenesis of tuberculosis, while pknE mutant modifying the innate immune response in immuno-mechanism of tuberculosis. Conclusions:There are four major cell sources for developing a macrophage model, which can be applied to studies on screening both Western and Chinese anti-TB drugs, figuring out the pathogenesis and immunemechanism of TB with some key issues remaining to be dealt with.