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Nature Immunology 9, 1101–1102 (1 October 2008) | doi:10.1038/ni1008-1101

Tuberculosis: unsealing the apoptotic envelope

Steven A Porcelli & William R Jacobs Jr

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTb) is an extraordinarily successful pathogen that has managed to latently infect nearly one third of humanity and is responsible for an estimated two million deaths annually. The lethal 'success' of this pathogen is intricately linked to its ability to manipulate the intracellular environment of phagocytic cells in the host, most notably macrophages, which are the favored site for the intracellular persistence and growth of MTb.