1 INTRODUCTION

Since the end of 2019, when the world was struck by the COVID-19 pandemic,^{1, 2} discussions regarding immunology seem not to be restricted to lecture halls and laboratories anymore, but have moved beyond the scientific community into public society. Popular talk shows and social media platforms nowadays not sporadically contain (non-scientific) conversations about herd immunity, neutralizing antibodies, the R-number, T cell cross-reactivity, rapid tests, host-directed therapy (chloroquine), and, of course, vaccines. With respect to the latter, the post-COVID-19 laymen attention focuses, besides on availability, on vaccine composition, regimen, trials, boosters, and efficacy, topics that, not too long ago, were considered far from appealing topics of conversation by non-scientist. To pull us out of the economically and socially devastating restrictions imposed on society by this global pandemic, the hope of the public is now directed on the new anti-COVID-19 vaccines that are currently being rolled out in many countries across the world.

Taken this present-day extent of public attention for immunology into consideration, it should have become common knowledge by now that long-term investments in research of immunology (inseparably linked with vaccinology) of infectious diseases, including those caused by pathogenic mycobacteria, have provided vital contributions to the current capability to develop and produce COVID-19 vaccines in <1 year.

Still, development of better diagnostics and improved vaccines has been relatively slow despite their protracted impact on the health of humans and animals as well as global economies. This controversy is reflecting the unpropitious funding situation of this research domain, which is quite disproportional with the number of casualties particularly in the case of tuberculosis (TB), a respiratory disease that, before 2020, has been more lethal than any other disease from a single infectious agent.³ However, in contrast to COVID-19, which has severely hit Europe and the USA as well, mycobacterial diseases mostly affect individuals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

This volume of Immunological Reviews comprises papers that encompass (recent) findings on the immunology of mycobacterial diseases caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), M leprae, M ulcerans, M avium, M absessus, M bovis, and M avium subspecies paratuberculosis, as well as immunity induced by the vaccine strain M bovis Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), thereby illustrating the progress made in basic research on Immunity to Mycobacteria.

This includes the role that classical and more recently discovered (T) cells play in these intriguing host-pathogen interactions as well as potential application thereof within vaccination strategies and as correlates of protection and disease in diagnostics. To unravel mechanisms of disease various “omics” technologies have contributed, leading to new insights regarding (prospective) diagnostics for^4-8 as well as immune mechanisms of mycobacterial diseases.^{9, 10}

In addition, it addresses the plethora of sophisticated survival strategies including manipulation of phagosome maturation, autophagy, mitochondrial activity, antigen presentation, and metabolic pathways that these mycobacteria can employ to evade the hosts’ immune systems.

中文翻译：

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所有分枝杆菌都具有创造性，但有些分枝杆菌比其他分枝杆菌更具代达性

1 介绍

自 2019 年底全球遭受 COVID-19 大流行以来^，1、2关于免疫学的讨论似乎不再局限于演讲厅和实验室，而是已经超越了科学界，进入了公共社会。现在流行的脱口秀和社交媒体平台不偶尔包含关于群体免疫、中和抗体、R 值、T 细胞交叉反应性、快速测试、宿主导向疗法（氯喹）以及，当然的（非科学）对话， 疫苗。对于后者，COVID-19 后的外行关注的焦点除了可用性之外，还集中在疫苗成分、方案、试验、加强剂和功效上，不久前，这些话题被认为远不是吸引人的话题。非科学家。为了让我们摆脱这场全球流行病对社会造成的经济和社会毁灭性限制，

考虑到当今公众对免疫学的关注程度，现在应该已经众所周知的是，对传染病（包括由致病性分枝杆菌引起的疾病）的免疫学（与疫苗学密不可分）研究的长期投资已经提供了对目前在 <1 年内开发和生产 COVID-19 疫苗的能力做出了重要贡献。

尽管如此，尽管更好的诊断方法和改进的疫苗对人类和动物的健康以及全球经济产生了长期影响，但它们的开发相对缓慢。这一争议反映出该研究领域的资金状况不佳，这与伤亡人数非常不成比例，特别是在肺结核 (TB) 的情况下单一传染源。³然而，与也严重袭击欧洲和美国的 COVID-19 相比，分枝杆菌疾病主要影响低收入和中等收入国家 (LMIC) 的个人。

免疫学评论的该体积包括文件，关于引起的分枝杆菌疾病的免疫学涵盖（最近）的发现结核分枝杆菌（Mtb的），中号麻风杆菌，中号溃疡，鸟型分枝杆菌，男absessus，牛分枝杆菌，和鸟型分枝杆菌亚种副结核，以及作为疫苗菌株M 牛卡介苗 (BCG)诱导的免疫，从而说明分枝杆菌免疫基础研究取得的进展。

这包括经典和最近发现的 (T) 细胞在这些有趣的宿主 - 病原体相互作用中发挥的作用，以及其在疫苗接种策略中的潜在应用，以及在诊断中作为保护和疾病的相关性。为了解开疾病的机制，各种“组学”技术做出了贡献，从而为^{4-8 的}（前瞻性）诊断以及分枝杆菌疾病的免疫机制提供了新的见解。^9、10

此外，它还解决了过多复杂的生存策略，包括操纵吞噬体成熟、自噬、线粒体活性、抗原呈递和这些分枝杆菌可以用来逃避宿主免疫系统的代谢途径。