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"It is estimated that 1.7 billion people have latent tuberculosis, that is, they are in perfect health, that they are neither tuberculous nor sick, but that some have This means that among these 1.7 billion individuals, some might develop tuberculosis because of possible weaknesses in the immune system, "said Margarida Saraiva, head of Immune Regulation Group at i3S.
The i3S research team, which has been developing several projects in the field of tuberculosis since 2015, now intends, through a "mark" left on the immune system by the bacteria, "to distinguish" those who have eliminated it from those who did not do it. eliminated. "
"Bacteria have learned to" escape "our immune system, but we have also learned to deal with them.What we want is to understand more concretely how the bacteria" escapes "from the immune system and how most people react – it's that some people even end up successfully removing it from the immune system, "he explained.
According to Margarida Saraiva, the "mark" left by the bacteria and related to the phenomenon "innate immunity training" was "discovered very recently" and could have "a very interesting value" in the context of the latency of the tuberculosis.
"This is a very recently described phenomenon.In fact, the technology itself and its methodology are not very developed.However, we have optimized the experimental part and collected samples because, as it is n & # 39; 39, has never been described, we have no standard of comparison, "explained the researcher.
Thus, in collaboration with the Porto Pneumological Diagnostic Center (CDP), the researchers recruited about 300 participants from the Porto area at different stages.
"We recruited a number of participants in our work, some with active TB, some already treated, others latent and others not latent or sick and apparently uninfected. Thanks to these samples, we have been able to have cells to optimize the procedures developed in the laboratory, "he said.
Margarida Saraiva also told Lusa that the i3S team had the intention of submitting, at the end of this year, an article on "virulence factors of the bacterium at the origin of tuberculosis ".
"We believe that the co-evolution of TB in our immune system has learned the" tricks "it needs to improve and worsen our immune response.Bacteria have not all evolved in the same way, which is why some are more virulent than others, "he added.
The i3S immune regulatory group, funded by the British FCT-Aga Khan Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) of the British Antimicrobial Research Society, was distinguished by the European Society of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Department Portuguese pneumology and fellowship Manuel de Mello for clinical research.
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