Go to JCI Insight
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • By specialty
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Immunology
    • Metabolism
    • Nephrology
    • Neuroscience
    • Oncology
    • Pulmonology
    • Vascular biology
    • All ...
  • Videos
    • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
    • Video Abstracts
  • Reviews
    • View all reviews ...
    • Pancreatic Cancer (Jul 2025)
    • Complement Biology and Therapeutics (May 2025)
    • Evolving insights into MASLD and MASH pathogenesis and treatment (Apr 2025)
    • Microbiome in Health and Disease (Feb 2025)
    • Substance Use Disorders (Oct 2024)
    • Clonal Hematopoiesis (Oct 2024)
    • Sex Differences in Medicine (Sep 2024)
    • View all review series ...
  • Viewpoint
  • Collections
    • In-Press Preview
    • Clinical Research and Public Health
    • Research Letters
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Editorials
    • Commentaries
    • Editor's notes
    • Reviews
    • Viewpoints
    • 100th anniversary
    • Top read articles

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Specialties
  • Reviews
  • Review series
  • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • Video Abstracts
  • In-Press Preview
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Research Letters
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Editorials
  • Commentaries
  • Editor's notes
  • Reviews
  • Viewpoints
  • 100th anniversary
  • Top read articles
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
The fat is in the lysosome: how Mycobacterium tuberculosis tricks macrophages into storing lipids
Yoann Rombouts, Olivier Neyrolles
Yoann Rombouts, Olivier Neyrolles
Published March 15, 2023
Citation Information: J Clin Invest. 2023;133(6):e168366. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI168366.
View: Text | PDF
Commentary

The fat is in the lysosome: how Mycobacterium tuberculosis tricks macrophages into storing lipids

  • Text
  • PDF
Abstract

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), infects primarily macrophages, causing them to differentiate into lipid-laden foamy macrophages that are a primary source of tissue destruction in patients with TB. In this issue of the JCI, Bedard et al. demonstrate that 1-tuberculosinyladenosine, a virulence factor produced by M. tuberculosis, caused lysosomal dysfunction associated with lipid storage in the phagolysosome of macrophages in a manner that mimicked lysosomal storage diseases. This work sheds light on how M. tuberculosis manipulates host lipid metabolism for its survival and opens avenues toward host-directed therapy against TB.

Authors

Yoann Rombouts, Olivier Neyrolles

×

Figure 1

1-TbAd produced by M. tuberculosis induces lysosomal lipid storage.

Options: View larger image (or click on image) Download as PowerPoint
1-TbAd produced by M. tuberculosis induces lysosomal lipid storage.
(i) ...
(i) M. tuberculosis (Mtb) produces 1-TbAd, which raises the vacuolar pH and inhibits acidic hydrolases, including lipases, inside the phagolysosome. (ii) Consequently, lipids, including cholesteryl esters and triglycerides, accumulate in the vacuole, mimicking lysosomal storage diseases. (iii) Under conditions of restricted lipid access, M. tuberculosis can use these lipids as a carbon source to promote its intracellular growth.

Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

Sign up for email alerts