EN
Prophylactic vaccination against tuberculosis (TB) with a live attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis Bacille Calmett?e-Gerin (BCG) has been used worldwide. However, TB remains one of the most significant diseases of humans and animals. Better understanding of the mechanisms of human immunity to mycobacteria is essential for development of new vaccines and estimation of their efficacy. In this study we determined the levels of known humoral mediators of mycobacterial phagocytosis - mannose binding lectin (MBL), soluble CD14 (sCD14), antibodies of IgG class against mycobacterial purified protein derivative (PPD) and mycobacterial Hsp65 antigen, in the sera from healthy young volunteers vaccinated with BCG and presenting positive and negative Mantoux responses to PPD. Than we asked a question as to whether macrophages and polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) from the individuals with positive (TT(+)) and negative (TT(-)) tuberculin tests differ by the ability to ingest mycobacteria. Also we were looking for a relation between the intensity of mycobacterial ingestion by phagocytes in the medium with autologous sera containing different concentration of MBL, sCD14 andf anti-mycobacterial IgG. We found no significant differences between the investigated parameters for TT(+) and TT(-) volunteers. Our result suggest that ability of macrophages and PMNs to ingest mycobacteria depends on an individual intrinsic capacity of phagocytes.