Cellular therapy in tuberculosis.

Cellular therapy now offer promise of potential adjunct therapeutic options for treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). We review here the role of Mesenchymal stromal cells, (MSCs), as well as other immune effector cells in the therapy of infectious diseases with a focus on TB. MSCs represent a population of tissue-resident non-hematopoietic adult progenitor cells which home into injured tissues increase the proliferative potential of broncho-alveolar stem cells and restore lung epithelium. MSCs have been shown to be immune-modulatory and anti-inflammatory mediated via cell-cell contacts as well as soluble factors. We discuss the functional profile of MSCs and their potential use for adjunct cellular therapy of multi-drug resistant TB, with the aim of limiting tissue damage, and to convert unproductive inflammatory responses into effective anti-pathogen directed immune responses. Adjunct cellular therapy could potentially offer salvage therapy options for patients with drug-resistant TB, increase clinically relevant anti-M.tuberculosis directed immune responses and possibly shorten the duration of anti-TB therapy.

Surgical treatment of complications of pulmonary tuberculosis, including drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Surgery for drug-resistant tuberculosis has been shown to be safe and effective, with similar level of mortalities associated with surgical intervention observed with that for lung cancer. While surgery has been an option to treat TB in the pre-antibiotic era, it is now increasingly used to treat complications of pulmonary TB, particularly in patients with drug-resistant TB who do not respond to medical treatment. The two most frequent indications for lung resection in drug- resistant TB, are i) failed medical treatment with persistent sputum positivity or ii) patients who have had medical treatment and are sputum negative, but with persistent localized cavitary disease or bronchiectasis. Massive hemoptysis is a potentially life-threatening complication of TB. Lung resection is potentially curative in patients with massive hemoptysis and cavitary or bronchiectatic disease. Bronchial artery embolization in these patients has a high success rate but bears also the risk of recurrence. Lung resection can be safely undertaken in selected patients with HIV co-infection and pulmonary complications of TB. Ambulatory drainage is a novel, safe, affordable and effective method of draining a chronic TB associated empyema thoracis. We review here the current surgical treatment of the complications of pulmonary TB and discuss the experience from the Durban Cardiothoracic Surgery Unit for the surgical treatment of patients with complicated pulmonary TB.