Department of Medicine
Susanna Brighenti is an Associate Professor in Immunology at the Center for Infectious Medicine (CIM) at Karolinska Institutet (KI) in Stockholm, Sweden. Her research group study immunopathogenesis in human tuberculosis (TB) infection with the aim to develop new host-directed therapies for difficult-to-treat TB disease such as multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB).
Dr. Brighenti performed her PhD training at Lund University and Active Biotech Research (1997-2002) before she was recruited to Karolinska Institutet as a postdoctoral fellow (2003-2008). Since 2008, Dr. Brighenti is one out of 15 group leaders at CIM, which is part of a new research environment, ANA Futura at KI Campus Flemingsberg, with shared infrastructure and cooperation for translational research and education and in close interaction with the Karolinska University hospital.
Dr. Brighenti´s group uses a combination of clinical and translational studies of immune responses in TB patients and including assessment of samples from peripheral blood, fluids and tissue samples, and in vitro studies of immune responses in TB using a macrophage infection model and different Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains. The group has extensive collaborations with TB-endemic countries such as Ethiopia and Bangladesh, where some of the key concepts for host-directed therapies have been tested in randomized clinical trials.
Compartmentalization of immune responses in human tuberculosis: few CD8+ effector T cells but elevated levels of FoxP3+ regulatory t cells in the granulomatous lesions.
The American journal of pathology Jun, 2009 | Pubmed ID: 19435796
Induction and regulation of CD8+ cytolytic T cells in human tuberculosis and HIV infection.
Biochemical and biophysical research communications May, 2010 | Pubmed ID: 20494110
A new potential biomarker for childhood tuberculosis.
Thorax Aug, 2011 | Pubmed ID: 21228421
Plasmacytoid dendritic cells infiltrate the skin in positive tuberculin skin test indurations.
The Journal of investigative dermatology Jan, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 21850028
Prime-boost vaccination with rBCG/rAd35 enhances CD8⁺ cytolytic T-cell responses in lesions from Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected primates.
Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) , 2012 | Pubmed ID: 22396020
Local immune responses in human tuberculosis: learning from the site of infection.
The Journal of infectious diseases May, 2012 | Pubmed ID: 22448014
BCG-specific IgG-secreting peripheral plasmablasts as a potential biomarker of active tuberculosis in HIV negative and HIV positive patients.
Thorax Mar, 2013 | Pubmed ID: 22923457
Modeling Mycobacterium tuberculosis early granuloma formation in experimental human lung tissue.
Disease models & mechanisms Feb, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24203885
Progression of clinical tuberculosis is associated with a Th2 immune response signature in combination with elevated levels of SOCS3.
Clinical immunology (Orlando, Fla.) Apr, 2014 | Pubmed ID: 24584041
Pulmonary tuberculosis patients with a vitamin D deficiency demonstrate low local expression of the antimicrobial peptide LL-37 but enhanced FoxP3+ regulatory T cells and IgG-secreting cells.
Clinical immunology (Orlando, Fla.) Feb, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 25510482
Phenylbutyrate induces LL-37-dependent autophagy and intracellular killing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in human macrophages.
Autophagy Sep, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26218841
Significant Effects of Oral Phenylbutyrate and Vitamin D3 Adjunctive Therapy in Pulmonary Tuberculosis: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
PloS one , 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26394045
B in TB: B Cells as Mediators of Clinically Relevant Immune Responses in Tuberculosis.
Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America Oct, 2015 | Pubmed ID: 26409285
Regulation of Immunity to Tuberculosis.
Microbiology spectrum 12, 2016 | Pubmed ID: 28087948
Humoral immune profiling of mycobacterial antigen recognition in sarcoidosis and Löfgren's syndrome using high-content peptide microarrays.
International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases Mar, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28159576
Peptide microarray-based characterization of antibody responses to host proteins after bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination.
International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases Mar, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28161459
Safety and immunogenicity of the novel H4:IC31 tuberculosis vaccine candidate in BCG-vaccinated adults: Two phase I dose escalation trials.
Vaccine 03, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28216183
IL-7δ5 protein is expressed in human tissues and induces expression of the oxidized low density lipoprotein receptor 1 (OLR1) in CD14+ monocytes.
International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases Jun, 2017 | Pubmed ID: 28279736
Enhanced CD8 cytolytic T cell responses in the peripheral circulation of patients with sarcoidosis and non-Löfgren's disease.
Respiratory medicine 05, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 29055517
Prostaglandin E suppresses hCAP18/LL-37 expression in human macrophages via EP2/EP4: implications for treatment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.
FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology 05, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 29401596
Daily adjunctive therapy with vitamin D and phenylbutyrate supports clinical recovery from pulmonary tuberculosis: a randomized controlled trial in Ethiopia.
Journal of internal medicine 09, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 29696707
Friends and foes of tuberculosis: modulation of protective immunity.
Journal of internal medicine May, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 29804292
Vitamin D₃ Status and the Association with Human Cathelicidin Expression in Patients with Different Clinical Forms of Active Tuberculosis.
Nutrients Jun, 2018 | Pubmed ID: 29867045
Daily Nutritional Supplementation with Vitamin D₃ and Phenylbutyrate to Treatment-Naïve HIV Patients Tested in a Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial.
Nutrients Jan, 2019 | Pubmed ID: 30634590
Vitamin D and Phenylbutyrate Supplementation Does Not Modulate Gut Derived Immune Activation in HIV-1.
Nutrients Jul, 2019 | Pubmed ID: 31330899
Polarization of Human Monocyte-Derived Cells With Vitamin D Promotes Control of Infection.
Frontiers in immunology , 2019 | Pubmed ID: 32038652
Targeted Nutrition in Chronic Disease.
Nutrients Jun, 2020 | Pubmed ID: 32516882
Akhirunnesa Mily1,2,
Sadaf Kalsum1,
Marco Giulio Loreti1,
Rokeya Sultana Rekha3,
Jagadeeswara Rao Muvva1,
Magda Lourda1,4,
Susanna Brighenti1
1Center for Infectious Medicine (CIM), Department of Medicine Huddinge, ANA Futura, Karolinska Institutet,
2Infectious Diseases Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh,
3Clinical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine (Labmed), ANA Futura, Karolinska Institutet,
4Childhood Cancer Research Unit, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet