Novel Function of Cyclooxygenase-2: Suppressing Mycobacteria by Promoting Autophagy via the Protein Kinase B/Mammalian Target of Rapamycin Pathway

The Cyclooxygenase 2 Inhibitor Etoricoxib as Adjunctive Therapy in Tuberculosis Impairs Macrophage Control of Mycobacterial Growth

BACKGROUND

Current tuberculosis treatment regimens could be improved by adjunct host-directed therapies (HDT) targeting host responses. We investigated the antimycobacterial capacity of macrophages from patients with tuberculosis in a phase 1/2 randomized clinical trial (TBCOX2) of the cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor etoricoxib.

METHODS

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 15 patients with tuberculosis treated with adjunctive COX-2i and 18 controls (standard therapy) were collected on day 56 after treatment initiation. The ex vivo capacity of macrophages to control mycobacterial infection was assessed by challenge with Mycobacterium avium, using an in vitro culture model. Macrophage inflammatory responses were analyzed by gene expression signatures, and concentrations of cytokines were analyzed in supernatants by multiplex.

RESULTS

Macrophages from patients receiving adjunctive COX-2i treatment had higher M. avium loads than controls after 6 days, suggesting an impaired capacity to control mycobacterial infection compared to macrophages from the control group. Macrophages from the COX-2i group had lower gene expression of TNF, IL-1B, CCL4, CXCL9, and CXCL10 and lowered production of cytokines IFN-β and S100A8/A9 than controls.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data suggest potential unfavorable effects with impaired macrophage capacity to control mycobacterial growth in patients with tuberculosis receiving COX-2i treatment. Larger clinical trials are required to analyze the safety of COX-2i as HDT in patients with tuberculosis.

CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION

NCT02503839.

Marine-Fungi-Derived Gliotoxin Promotes Autophagy to Suppress Mycobacteria tuberculosis Infection in Macrophage

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection causes tuberculosis (TB) and has been a long-standing public-health threat. It is urgent that we discover novel antitubercular agents to manage the increased incidence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) or extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains of MTB and tackle the adverse effects of the first- and second-line antitubercular drugs. We previously found that gliotoxin (1), 12, 13-dihydroxy-fumitremorgin C (2), and helvolic acid (3) from the cultures of a deep-sea-derived fungus, Aspergillus sp. SCSIO Ind09F01, showed direct anti-TB effects. As macrophages represent the first line of the host defense system against a mycobacteria infection, here we showed that the gliotoxin exerted potent anti-tuberculosis effects in human THP-1-derived macrophages and mouse-macrophage-leukemia cell line RAW 264.7, using CFU assay and laser confocal scanning microscope analysis. Mechanistically, gliotoxin apparently increased the ratio of LC3-II/LC3-I and Atg5 expression, but did not influence macrophage polarization, IL-1β, TNF-a, IL-10 production upon MTB infection, or ROS generation. Further study revealed that 3-MA could suppress gliotoxin-promoted autophagy and restore gliotoxin-inhibited MTB infection, indicating that gliotoxin-inhibited MTB infection can be treated through autophagy in macrophages. Therefore, we propose that marine fungi-derived gliotoxin holds the promise for the development of novel drugs for TB therapy.

Advances of Long Non-Coding RNAs as Potential Biomarkers for Tuberculosis: New Hope for Diagnosis?

Tuberculosis (TB), one of the top ten causes of death globally induced by the infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), remains a grave public health issue worldwide. With almost one-third of the world's population getting infected by Mtb, between 5% and 10% of these infected individuals are predicted to develop active TB disease, which would not only result in severe tissue damage and necrosis, but also pose serious threats to human life. However, the exact molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis and immunology of TB remain unclear, which significantly restricts the effective control of TB epidemics. Despite significant advances in current detection technologies and treatments for TB, there are still no appropriate solutions that are suitable for simultaneous, early, rapid, and accurate screening of TB. Various cellular events can perturb the development and progression of TB, which are always associated with several specific molecular signaling events controlled by dysregulated gene expression patterns. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), a kind of non-coding RNA (ncRNA) with a transcript of more than 200 nucleotides in length in eukaryotic cells, have been found to regulate the expression of protein-coding genes that are involved in some critical signaling events, such as inflammatory, pathological, and immunological responses. Increasing evidence has claimed that lncRNAs might directly influence the susceptibility to TB, as well as the development and progression of TB. Therefore, lncRNAs have been widely expected to serve as promising molecular biomarkers and therapeutic targets for TB. In this review, we summarized the functions of lncRNAs and their regulatory roles in the development and progression of TB. More importantly, we widely discussed the potential of lncRNAs to act as TB biomarkers, which would offer new possibilities in novel diagnostic strategy exploration and benefit the control of the TB epidemic.

Beyond the Clinic: The Activation of Diverse Cellular and Humoral Factors Shapes the Immunological Status of Patients with Active Tuberculosis

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the etiologic agent of tuberculosis (TB), has killed nearly one billion people in the last two centuries. Nowadays, TB remains a major global health problem, ranking among the thirteen leading causes of death worldwide. Human TB infection spans different levels of stages: incipient, subclinical, latent and active TB, all of them with varying symptoms, microbiological characteristics, immune responses and pathologies profiles. After infection, Mtb interacts with diverse cells of both innate and adaptive immune compartments, playing a crucial role in the modulation and development of the pathology. Underlying TB clinical manifestations, individual immunological profiles can be identified in patients with active TB according to the strength of their immune responses to Mtb infection, defining diverse endotypes. Those different endotypes are regulated by a complex interaction of the patient's cellular metabolism, genetic background, epigenetics, and gene transcriptional regulation. Here, we review immunological categorizations of TB patients based on the activation of different cellular populations (both myeloid and lymphocytic subsets) and humoral mediators (such as cytokines and lipid mediators). The analysis of the participating factors that operate during active Mtb infection shaping the immunological status or immune endotypes of TB patients could contribute to the development of Host Directed Therapy.

The roles of COX-2 in protozoan infection

Protozoan diseases cause great harm in animal husbandry and require human-provided medical treatment. Protozoan infection can induce changes in cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression. The role played by COX-2 in the response to protozoan infection is complex. COX-2 induces and regulates inflammation by promoting the synthesis of different prostaglandins (PGs), which exhibit a variety of biological activities and participate in pathophysiological processes in the body in a variety of ways. This review explains the roles played by COX-2 in protozoan infection and analyzes the effects of COX-2-related drugs in protozoan diseases.

In-depth systems biological evaluation of bovine alveolar macrophages suggests novel insights into molecular mechanisms underlying Mycobacterium bovis infection

OBJECTIVE

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a chronic respiratory infectious disease of domestic livestock caused by intracellular Mycobacterium bovis infection, which causes ~$3 billion in annual losses to global agriculture. Providing novel tools for bTB managements requires a comprehensive understanding of the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying the M. bovis infection. Nevertheless, a combination of different bioinformatics and systems biology methods was used in this study in order to clearly understand the molecular regulatory mechanisms of bTB, especially the immunomodulatory mechanisms of M. bovis infection.

METHODS

RNA-seq data were retrieved and processed from 78 (39 non-infected control vs. 39 M. bovis-infected samples) bovine alveolar macrophages (bAMs). Next, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was performed to identify the co-expression modules in non-infected control bAMs as reference set. The WGCNA module preservation approach was then used to identify non-preserved modules between non-infected controls and M. bovis-infected samples (test set). Additionally, functional enrichment analysis was used to investigate the biological behavior of the non-preserved modules and to identify bTB-specific non-preserved modules. Co-expressed hub genes were identified based on module membership (MM) criteria of WGCNA in the non-preserved modules and then integrated with protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks to identify co-expressed hub genes/transcription factors (TFs) with the highest maximal clique centrality (MCC) score (hub-central genes).

RESULTS

As result, WGCNA analysis led to the identification of 21 modules in the non-infected control bAMs (reference set), among which the topological properties of 14 modules were altered in the M. bovis-infected bAMs (test set). Interestingly, 7 of the 14 non-preserved modules were directly related to the molecular mechanisms underlying the host immune response, immunosuppressive mechanisms of M. bovis, and bTB development. Moreover, among the co-expressed hub genes and TFs of the bTB-specific non-preserved modules, 260 genes/TFs had double centrality in both co-expression and PPI networks and played a crucial role in bAMs-M. bovis interactions. Some of these hub-central genes/TFs, including PSMC4, SRC, BCL2L1, VPS11, MDM2, IRF1, CDKN1A, NLRP3, TLR2, MMP9, ZAP70, LCK, TNF, CCL4, MMP1, CTLA4, ITK, IL6, IL1A, IL1B, CCL20, CD3E, NFKB1, EDN1, STAT1, TIMP1, PTGS2, TNFAIP3, BIRC3, MAPK8, VEGFA, VPS18, ICAM1, TBK1, CTSS, IL10, ACAA1, VPS33B, and HIF1A, had potential targets for inducing immunomodulatory mechanisms by M. bovis to evade the host defense response.

CONCLUSION

The present study provides an in-depth insight into the molecular regulatory mechanisms behind M. bovis infection through biological investigation of the candidate non-preserved modules directly related to bTB development. Furthermore, several hub-central genes/TFs were identified that were significant in determining the fate of M. bovis infection and could be promising targets for developing novel anti-bTB therapies and diagnosis strategies.

Gut dysbacteriosis attenuates resistance to Mycobacterium bovis infection by decreasing Cyclooxygenase 2 to inhibit endoplasmic reticulum stress

AbstractThe role of gut microbiota has been described as an important influencer of the immune system. Gut-lung axis is critical in the prevention of mycobacterium infection, but the specific mechanism by which dysbiosis affects tuberculosis have not been reported. In this study, we attempted to provide more information on how the gut-lung axis contributes to Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) infection. Mice pre-treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics cocktail (Abx) to induce gut dysbiosis. Interestingly, dysbiosis of microbes showed a significant increase in the bacterial burden in lungs, and inhibited the level of COX-2. After fecal transplantation, cyclooxygenase 2（COX-2） expression was restored and the inflammatory lesion in the lung was reduced. Further research found that the deficiency of COX-2 inhibited endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER-stress). This mechanism was completed by COX-2 interaction with BIP. Moreover, we found a positive feedback mechanism by which blocking ER-stress could reduce COX-2 levels via the NF-κB pathway. Taken together, we reveal for the first time gut dysbacteriosis exacerbates M. bovis disease by limiting COX-2 /ER-stress pathway. The finding strengthens the foundation of gut microbiota-targeted therapy for tuberculosis treatment.

Smad4 Deficiency Promotes Pancreatic Cancer Immunogenicity by Activating the Cancer-Autonomous DNA-Sensing Signaling Axis

Smad4, a key mediator of the transforming growth factor-β signaling, is mutated or deleted in 20% of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cancers and significantly affects cancer development. However, the effect of Smad4 loss on the immunogenicity and tumor immune microenvironment of PDAC is still unclear. Here, a surprising function of Smad4 in suppressing mouse PDAC tumor immunogenicity is identified. Although Smad4 deletion in tumor cells enhances proliferation in vitro, the in vivo growth of Smad4-deficient PDAC tumor is significantly inhibited on immunocompetent C57BL/6 (B6) mice, but not on immunodeficient mice or CD8⁺ cell-depleted B6 mice. Mechanistically, Smad4 deficiency significantly increases tumor cell immunogenicity by promoting spontaneous DNA damage and stimulating STING-mediated type I interferon signaling,which contributes to the activation of type 1 conventional dendritic cells (cDC1) and subsequent CD8⁺ T cells for tumor control. Furthermore, retarded tumor growth of Smad4-deficient PDAC cells on B6 mice is largely reversed when Sting is codeleted, or when the cells are implanted into interferon-alpha receptor-deficientmice or cDC1-deficientmice. Accordingly, Smad4 deficiency promotes PDAC immunogenicity by inducing tumor-intrinsic DNA damage-elicited type I interferon signaling.

Shedding Light on Autophagy During Human Tuberculosis. A Long Way to Go

Immunity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is highly complex, and the outcome of the infection depends on the role of several immune mediators with particular temporal dynamics on the host microenvironment. Autophagy is a central homeostatic mechanism that plays a role on immunity against intracellular pathogens, including Mtb. Enhanced autophagy in macrophages mediates elimination of intracellular Mtb through lytic and antimicrobial properties only found in autolysosomes. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that standard anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy depends on host autophagy to coordinate successful antimicrobial responses to mycobacteria. Notably, autophagy constitutes an anti-inflammatory mechanism that protects against endomembrane damage triggered by several endogenous components or infectious agents and precludes excessive inflammation. It has also been reported that autophagy can be modulated by cytokines and other immunological signals. Most of the studies on autophagy as a defense mechanism against Mycobacterium have been performed using murine models or human cell lines. However, very limited information exists about the autophagic response in cells from tuberculosis patients. Herein, we review studies that face the autophagy process in tuberculosis patients as a component of the immune response of the human host against an intracellular microorganism such as Mtb. Interestingly, these findings might contribute to recognize new targets for the development of novel therapeutic tools to combat Mtb. Actually, either as a potential successful vaccine or a complementary immunotherapy, efforts are needed to further elucidate the role of autophagy during the immune response of the human host, which will allow to achieve protective and therapeutic benefits in human tuberculosis.

MicroRNA-155 Modulates Macrophages' Response to Non-Tuberculous Mycobacteria through COX-2/PGE2 Signaling

Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) have been recognized as a causative agent of various human diseases, including severe infections in immunocompromised patients, such as people living with HIV. The most common species identified is the Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex (MAI/MAC), accounting for a majority of infections. Despite abundant information detailing the clinical significance of NTM, little is known about host–pathogen interactions in NTM infection. MicroRNAs (miRs) serve as important post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression. Using a microarray profile, we found that the expression of miR-155 and cyclo-oxygenase 2 (COX-2) is significantly increased in bone-marrow-derived macrophages from mice and human monocyte-derived macrophages from healthy volunteers that are infected with NTM. Antagomir against miR-155 effectively suppressed expression of COX-2 and reduced Prostaglandin E₂(PGE2) secretion, suggesting that COX-2/PGE2 expression is dependent on miR-155. Mechanistically, we found that inhibition of NF-κB activity significantly reduced miR-155/COX-2 expression in infected macrophages. Most importantly, blockade of COX-2, E-prostanoid receptors (EP2 and EP4) enhanced killing of MAI in macrophages. These findings provide novel mechanistic insights into the role of miR-155/COX-2/PGE2 signalling and suggest that induction of these pathways enhances survival of mycobacteria in macrophages. Defining host–pathogen interactions can lead to novel immunomodulatory therapies for NTM infections which are difficult to treat.

PGE2 displays immunosuppressive effects during human active tuberculosis

Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), an active lipid compound derived from arachidonic acid, regulates different stages of the immune response of the host during several pathologies such as chronic infections or cancer. In fact, manipulation of PGE2 levels was proposed as an approach for countering the Type I IFN signature of tuberculosis (TB). However, very limited information regarding the PGE2 pathway in patients with active TB is currently available. In the present work, we demonstrated that PGE2 exerts a potent immunosuppressive action during the immune response of the human host against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection. Actually, we showed that PGE2 significantly reduced the surface expression of several immunological receptors, the lymphoproliferation and the production of proinflammatory cytokines. In addition, PGE2 promoted autophagy in monocytes and neutrophils cultured with Mtb antigens. These results suggest that PGE2 might be attenuating the excessive inflammatory immune response caused by Mtb, emerging as an attractive therapeutic target. Taken together, our findings contribute to the knowledge of the role of PGE2 in the human host resistance to Mtb and highlight the potential of this lipid mediator as a tool to improve anti-TB treatment.

β-Arrestin 2 Regulates Inflammatory Responses against Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection through ERK1/2 Signaling

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the pathogen that causes tuberculosis, exhibits complex host-pathogen interactions. Pattern recognition receptors and their downstream signaling pathways play crucial roles in determining the outcome of infection. In particular, the scaffold protein β-arrestin 2 mediates downstream signaling of G protein-coupled receptors. However, the role of β-arrestin 2 in conferring immunity against M. tuberculosis has not yet been explored. We found that β-arrestin 2 was upregulated in the lesioned regions of lung tissues in patients with tuberculosis. M. tuberculosis infection upregulated β-arrestin 2 expression in human macrophages, and silencing of β-arrestin 2 significantly enhanced bactericidal activity by enhancing the expression of proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α. β-Arrestin 2 was shown to inhibit the activation of the TLR2/ERK1/2 pathway and its transcriptional regulation activity upon M. tuberculosis infection. Furthermore, β-arrestin 2 transcriptionally regulates TNF-α by binding to CREB1. These observations revealed that the upregulation of β-arrestin 2 is critical for M. tuberculosis to escape immune surveillance through an unknown mechanism. Our research offers a novel interference modality to enhance the immune response against tuberculosis by targeting β-arrestin 2 to modulate the TLR2-β-arrestin 2-ERK1/2-CREB1-TNF-α regulatory axis.

RNA-Seq Transcriptome Analysis of Peripheral Blood From Cattle Infected With Mycobacterium bovis Across an Experimental Time Course

Bovine tuberculosis, caused by infection with members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, particularly Mycobacterium bovis, is a major endemic disease affecting cattle populations worldwide, despite the implementation of stringent surveillance and control programs in many countries. The development of high-throughput functional genomics technologies, including RNA sequencing, has enabled detailed analysis of the host transcriptome to M. bovis infection, particularly at the macrophage and peripheral blood level. In the present study, we have analysed the transcriptome of bovine whole peripheral blood samples collected at −1 week pre-infection and +1, +2, +6, +10, and +12 weeks post-infection time points. Differentially expressed genes were catalogued and evaluated at each post-infection time point relative to the −1 week pre-infection time point and used for the identification of putative candidate host transcriptional biomarkers for M. bovis infection. Differentially expressed gene sets were also used for examination of cellular pathways associated with the host response to M. bovis infection, construction of de novo gene interaction networks enriched for host differentially expressed genes, and time-series analyses to identify functionally important groups of genes displaying similar patterns of expression across the infection time course. A notable outcome of these analyses was identification of a 19-gene transcriptional biosignature of infection consisting of genes increased in expression across the time course from +1 week to +12 weeks post-infection.

Triptolide Modulates the Expression of Inflammation-Associated lncRNA-PACER and lincRNA-p21 in Mycobacterium tuberculosis-Infected Monocyte-Derived Macrophages

Triptolide is a diterpene triepoxide, which performs its biological activities via mechanisms including induction of apoptosis, targeting of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and reshaping of the epigenetic landscape of target cells. However, the targeting of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) by triptolide has not yet been investigated, despite their emerging roles as key epigenetic regulators of inflammation and immune cell function during Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection. Hence, we investigated whether triptolide targets inflammation-associated lncRNA-PACER and lincRNA-p21 and how this targeting associates with Mtb killing within monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs).Using RT-qPCR, we found that triptolide induced the expression of lincRNA-p21 but inhibited the expression of lncRNA-PACER in resting MDMs in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Moreover, Mtb infection induced the expression of lincRNA-p21 and lncRNA-PACER, and exposure to triptolide before or after Mtb infection led to further increase of Mtb-induced expression of these lncRNAs in MDMs. We further found that contrary to lncRNA-PACER, triptolide time- and dose-dependently upregulated Ptgs-2, which is a proximal gene regulated by lncRNA-PACER. Also, low-concentration triptolide inhibited the expression of cytokine IL-6, a known target of lincRNA-p21. Mtb infection induced the expression of IL-6 and Ptgs-2, and triptolide treatment further increased IL-6 but decreased Ptgs-2 expression in Mtb-infected MDMs. The inverse relation between the expression of these lncRNAs and their target genes is concordant with the conception that these lncRNAs mediate, at least partially, the cytotoxic and/or anti-inflammatory activities of triptolide in both resting and activated MDMs. Using the CFU count method, we found that triptolide decreased the intracellular growth of Mtb HN878. The alamarBlue assay showed that this decreased Mtb HN878 growth was not as a result of direct targeting of Mtb HN878 by triptolide, but rather evoking MDMs’ intracellular killing mechanisms which we speculate could include triptolide-induced enhancement of MDMs’ effector killing functions mediated by lncRNA-PACER and lincRNA-p21. Altogether, these results provide proof of the modulation of lncRNA-PACER and lincRNA-p21 expression by triptolide, and a possible link between these lncRNAs, the enhancement of MDMs’ effector killing functions and the intracellular Mtb-killing activities of triptolide. These findings prompt for further investigation of the precise contribution of these lncRNAs to triptolide-induced activities in MDMs.

Ovarian hormones-autophagy-immunity axis in menstruation and endometriosis

Menstruation occurs in few species and involves a cyclic process of proliferation, breakdown and regeneration under the control of ovarian hormones. Knowledge of normal endometrial physiology, as it pertains to the regulation of menstruation, is essential to understand disorders of menstruation. Accumulating evidence indicates that autophagy in the endometrium, under the regulation of ovarian hormones, can result in the infiltration of immune cells, which plays an indispensable role in the endometrium shedding, tissue repair and prevention of infections during menstruation. In addition, abnormal autophagy levels, together with resulting dysregulated immune system function, are associated with the pathogenesis and progression of endometriosis. Considering its potential value of autophagy as a target for the treatment of menstrual-related and endometrium-related disorders, we review the activity and function of autophagy during menstrual cycles. The role of the estrogen/progesterone-autophagy-immunity axis in endometriosis are also discussed.

Cyclooxygenase-2 Inhibition Reduces Autophagy of Macrophages Enhancing Extraintestinal Pathogenic Escherichia coli Infection

Extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC) is one of the top pathogens responsible for bloodstream infection and severe, often fatal, sepsis. Although the virulence factors and host immune responses to ExPEC infection have been investigated, the responses to a particular ExPEC strain could be very different. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms of Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) up-regulation in influencing the host defenses against infection of ExPEC XM O2:K1:H7. Our results demonstrated that ExPEC XM O2:K1:H7 infection in mouse and RAW264.7 macrophages leads to COX-2 up-regulation, and COX-2 inhibition significantly enhances ExPEC infection. The up-regulation of COX-2 in macrophages was mediated by Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) through the activation of p38 and extracellular signal-regulated kinase/Mitogen-activated protein kinase (ERK/MAPK) pathways. Further studies showed that COX-2 inhibition significantly decreased autophagy in macrophages during ExPEC XM O2:K1:H7 infection. Autophagy inhibition significantly enhanced, while induction reduced ExPEC XM O2:K1:H7 survival in macrophages. In addition, COX-2 inhibition significantly increased macrophage cell death during ExPEC XM O2:K1:H7 infection and increased the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10). Our results indicate that COX-2 up-regulation benefits host defense against ExPEC XM O2:K1:H7 infection by increasing autophagy in macrophages and by reducing IL-10 expression and macrophage cell death during ExPEC infection.

IL-36γ Promotes Killing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by Macrophages via WNT5A-Induced Noncanonical WNT Signaling

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which primarily infects mononuclear phagocytes, remains the leading bacterial cause of enormous morbidity and mortality because of bacterial infections in humans throughout the world. The IL-1 family of cytokines is critical for host resistance to M. tuberculosis As a newly discovered subgroup of the IL-1 family, although IL-36 cytokines have been proven to play roles in protection against M. tuberculosis infection, the antibacterial mechanisms are poorly understood. In this study, we demonstrated that IL-36γ conferred to human monocyte-derived macrophages bacterial resistance through activation of autophagy as well as induction of WNT5A, a reported downstream effector of IL-1 involved in several inflammatory diseases. Further studies showed that WNT5A could enhance autophagy of monocyte-derived macrophages by inducing cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression and in turn decrease phosphorylation of AKT/mTOR via noncanonical WNT signaling. Consistently, the underlying molecular mechanisms of IL-36γ function are also mediated by the COX-2/AKT/mTOR signaling axis. Altogether, our findings reveal a novel activity for IL-36γ as an inducer of autophagy, which represents a critical inflammatory cytokine that control the outcome of M. tuberculosis infection in human macrophages.