Extract
The respiratory tract of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) is colonised with a high diversity of micro-organisms. Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) show a high and increasing prevalence. 40% of these positive NTM cultures are caused by Mycobacterium abscessus [1], one of the rapidly growing NTMs present in the environment. Patients with M. abscessus infection are difficult to treat, due to natural and acquired antibiotic resistance [2, 3], and an infection with M. abscessus is controversially discussed as a contraindication for lung transplantation [4].
Abstract
Mycobacterium abscessus-specific IL-17 deficiency is present in cystic fibrosis patients with M. abscessus http://ow.ly/U2DNL
Acknowledgement
The authors thank Liesbeth Jacobs and Trees Jansen (Dept of Internal Medicine, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands) for their help with the cytokine stimulation assay.
Footnotes
Support statement: F.L. van de Veerdonk was supported by a Veni grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, and a Nijmegen Centre for Molecular Life Sciences grant from Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre. M.G. Netea was supported by a European Research Council consolidator grant (ERC-310372). Funding information for this article has been deposited with FundRef.
Conflict of interest: None declared.
- Received March 18, 2015.
- Accepted October 20, 2015.
- Copyright ©ERS 2016