Clinical, metabolic, and immune interaction between tuberculosis and diabetes mellitus: implications and opportunities for therapies.

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major infectious threat to global health, while type 2 diabetes mellitus (diabetes) has reached epidemic proportions in many regions of the world. In low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) and among indigenous and minority communities in high-income settings (HIC), these diseases also increasingly overlap, posing new clinical and therapeutic challenges.

Areas covered: We searched PubMed/CINAHL/Web of Science/Scopus, Google Scholar up to 30 November 2024. Meanwhile, the Immuno-metabolic parallels between TB and Diabetes are underappreciated. Improved understanding of mechanisms may pave the way for novel therapeutic strategies, for example, using antidiabetic medications as adjuvant host-directed therapies (HDT) in active TB. We review the epidemiology of TB, diabetes and their combined comorbidity, their immune and metabolic mechanisms and clinical relevance, as well as potential opportunities for general and targeted therapeutic intervention.

Expert opinion: Immunometabolic interaction between diabetes and tuberculosis is bidirectional. Underlying this interaction are shared inflammatory mechanisms. It follows that treatments for diabetes and its complication may be beneficial in tuberculosis and that the treatment of both active and latent tuberculosis may improve glycemic control. These interactions are amenable to investigation in experimental models, in human experimental medicine studies and in clinical trials.