Cytomegalovirus as a risk factor for exacerbation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: development of a Mtb-CMV mouse model infection

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has been hypothesised to elevate risk of progression to tuberculosis (TB) disease. However, epidemiological human data show conflicting data. To date, an animal model of CMV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb), the causative agent of TB, has not been established, to facilitate study of the relationship and mechanisms associated with the co-infection. In this study, C57Bl/6 mice were infected with 10^5 PFU murine CMV. Twelve weeks following mCMV infection, mice were infected with 100 CFU M. tb H37Rv. At one-, three- and four-weeks following M.tb infection, animals were culled by cervical dislocation and lungs were collected for downstream processing for CFU enumeration and bulk RNA sequencing.