Innate Immune Effectors in Mycobacterial Infection

Figure 4

Effectors that mediate mycobacterial killing in macrophages. Macrophages eliminate invading mycobacteria by activating several effector functions, such as phagosomes and autophagy. Nramp1 is expressed in the phagosomal membrane and presumably mediates mycobacterial killing by sequestering iron uptake. IFN-γ and the TLR4 ligand induce expression of LRG47, which in turn stimulates autophagy in macrophages. Autophagy is responsible for mycobacterial killing by promoting fusion of mycobacterial phagosomes to lysosomes.