LIPID VARIATIONS IN HUMAN PLASMA OF TUBERCULOSIS PATIENTS

Abstract

Tuberculosis is currently the leading cause of death from an infectious disease worldwide, ranking alongside with human immunodeficiency virus. Pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis make use of host lipids for their survival and replication during infection. Since a high proportion of the genome of this bacterium encodes for enzymes involved in lipid-related processes, we hypothesize that lipid metabolism play a crucial role in the disease mechanism. To test this hypothesis, we aimed to identify changes in the human plasma lipidome of active tuberculosis patients in comparison with healthy controls and latent individuals. After lipid extraction, analyses were performed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry using a targeted approach for different classes of lipids. A validation of these potential disease biomarkers in longitudinal studies with human plasma samples from active tuberculosis patients, who were on established tuberculosis drug treatment over a period of six months, was also carried out.