The Presence of Cytotoxic CD4 and Exhausted-Like CD8+ T-Cells Is a Signature of Active Tuberculosis

Researchers found that lipids from Mycobacterium tuberculosis increased the presence of CD4+ T cells with cytotoxic functions (CD4 CTLs) in DR-TB patients. Our data suggested that active tuberculosis was characterized by exhausted-like CD8+ T cells, which, together with a specific microenvironment, favor the presence of CD4 CTLs.