[Recent advances in tuberculosis immunity]

Primary tuberculosis infection is acquired by the inhalation of droplets containing Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) bacilli. Only 5-10% of those individuals infected by MTB develop clinical diseases, and disease presentation itself is heterogeneous, suggesting that host factors play a large role in disease susceptibility. Protective immunity in the lung against MTB consist of the innate immunity in which alveolar macrophages play an central role, and the acquired immunity including various type of effector T cells. Recent studies show that the important roles of the receptors which recognize MTB for the development of protective immunity, the difference in the anti-MTB activity of macrophages between human and mice, the macrophage-heterogeneity that affects the anti-MTB activity, the role of IL-10 in the activation of anti-MTB activity of human macrophages, and the role of Th17/IL-17, Th22/ IL-22 and TNF in the protective immunity against human tuberculosis. In this review, these recent advances in tuberculosis immunity will be described.