Role of Calcimycin in Regulation of Autophagy in THP-1 Cells

Abstract

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb), is the known pathogen for causing tuberculosis. It infects approximately one­ third of the world’s population. According to the global tuberculosis report 2013 by WHO, Tuberculosis remains a major global health problem. In 2012, nearly about 8.6 million people developed TB & 1.3 million people died from the disease. This bug enters our body through the respiratory tract and macrophages are the first phagocytes to engulf it through phagocytosis leading to the formation of phagosome. Despite various efficient host immune barriers, the bug has a tremendous ability to circumvent these barriers like inhibition of phagosome­lysosome fusion and autophagy for its intracellular multiplication and survival. Autophagy is a host defense mechanism and various published reports have shown that calcium signaling in autophagy play an important role in curtailing the disease load. So the present study is to see the regulation of autophagy in human monocytic cell line, THP­1 by Calcimycin, an important calcium ionophore that helps to increases the intracellular calcium level inside the cell