ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2020
Patients infected with Mycobacterium africanum versus Mycobacterium tuberculosis possess distinct intestinal microbiota.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Methods for Detecting Mycobacterial Mixed Strain Infections-A Systematic Review.Frontiers in genetics · 2020Pooled it
- A novel enterotype enriched with respiratory super-dominant pathobionts is associated with immunosuppression in pulmonary tuberculosis patients.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Article
- Gut microbiome disruption in Tanzanian pulmonary tuberculosis patients: links to treatment, nutritional status, and host immunity.BMC microbiology · 2026Article
- MDPD reveals specific microbial signatures in human pulmonary diseases.Briefings in bioinformatics · 2026Article
- Gut microbiota and tuberculosis.iMeta · 2025Review
- Changes in gut microbiome following anti-tuberculosis treatment: a prospective cohort from eastern China.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Observational
- Metabolic and immune consequences of antibiotic related microbiome alterations during first-line tuberculosis treatment in Bamako, Mali.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Exploring gut microbiota and its predicted functions in pulmonary tuberculosis: A multi-regional study using public 16S datasets.PloS one · 2025Article
- Pathogenesis of Post-Tuberculosis Lung Disease: Defining Knowledge Gaps and Research Priorities at the Second International Post-Tuberculosis Symposium.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2024Review
- Gut microbiota: a crucial player in the combat against tuberculosis.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Review
- A Scoping Review Evaluating the Current State of Gut Microbiota Research in Africa.Microorganisms · 2023Article
- Article
- The gut microbiome: A line of defense against tuberculosis development.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2023Review
- The Microbiome as Part of the Contemporary View of Tuberculosis Disease.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium africanum: Knowns and unknowns.PLoS pathogens · 2022Review
- Distal Consequences of Mucosal Infections in Intestinal and Lung Inflammation.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Review
- Profiling of Intestinal Microbiota in Patients Infected with Respiratory Influenza A and B Viruses.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Antituberculosis Therapy and Gut Microbiota: Review of Potential Host Microbiota Directed-Therapies.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2021Review
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Authors and funding
19 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC), the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), is composed of eight subspecies. TB in West Africa, in contrast to other geographical regions, is caused by Mycobacterium africanum (MAF) in addition to M. tuberculosis (MTB), with both infections presenting similar symptoms. Nevertheless, MAF is considered to be hypovirulent in comparison with MTB and less likely to progress to active disease. In this study, we asked whether MAF and MTB infected patients possess distinct intestinal microbiomes and characterized how these microbiota communities are affected by anti-tuberculosis therapy (ATT). Additionally, we assessed if the changes in microbiota composition following infection correlate with pathogen induced alterations in host blood-gene expression.
methodsA longitudinal, clinical study of MAF infected, MTB infected patients assessed at diagnosis and two months after start of ATT, and healthy, endemic controls was conducted to compare compositions of the fecal microbiome as determined by 16S rRNA sequencing. A blood transcriptome analysis was also performed on a subset of subjects in each group by microarray and the results cross-compared with the same individual's microbiota composition.
findingsMAF participants have distinct microbiomes compared with MTB patients, displaying decreased diversity and increases in Enterobacteriaceae with respect to healthy participants not observed in the latter patient group. Interestingly, this observed elevation in Enterobacteriaceae positively correlated with enhanced inflammatory gene expression in peripheral blood and was reversed after initiation of ATT.
interpretationOur findings indicate that MAF and MTB have distinct associations with the gut microbiome that may be reflective of the differential susceptibility of West Africans to these two co-endemic infections either as biomarkers or as a contributing determinant.
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