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Updated: Feb 9, 2026

Diagnosing Pulmonary Tuberculosis with the Xpert MTB/RIF Test
Published on: April 9, 2012
Dual role of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 α in experimental pulmonary tuberculosis: its implication as a new
Guillermina J Baay-Guzman1, Marco A Duran-Padilla2, Jesus Rangel-Santiago1
1Unidad de Investigacion en Enfermedades Oncologicas, Hospital Infantil de Mexico, Federico Gomez, Mexico City, Mexico.
Aim:
Investigate the role of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) in pulmonary tuberculosis (TB).
Methods & Results:
A model of progressive pulmonary TB in BALB/c mice, immunohistochemistry and digital pathology were used. High HIF-1α expression was observed during early TB in activated macrophages. During late TB, even higher HIF-1α expression was observed in foamy macrophages, which are resistant to apoptosis. Blocking HIF-1α during early infection with 2-methoxyestradiol worsened the disease, while during late TB, it induced macrophage apoptosis and decreased bacillary loads.
Conclusion:
HIF-1α has a dual role in experimental TB. This finding could have therapeutic implications because combined treatment with 2-methoxyestradiol and antibiotics appeared to eliminate mycobacteria more efficiently than conventional chemotherapy during advanced disease.
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