This department was initiated in 1987 with the aim of providing diagnostic services and establishing experimental pathology to study the pathogenesis of tuberculosis in animal models.

Head of Department: Dr.V.D.Ramanathan, Scientist F
Email: vdramanathan@trcchennai.in

Major area of work being carried out in the Clinical Pathology Section pertains to studies on the role of complement in TB relation to three facets of the interaction between the complement system and mycobacteria.

The first pertains to delineating the status of the complement system (its components, regulators and receptors on peripheral blood leukocytes) in patients with active and healed pulmonary tuberculosis in comparison to normal, healthy controls.

The second project attempts to answer a specific question pertaining to the modulating role of anti M. tuberculosis in the interaction between the tubercle bacillus and the macrophages through the complement system.

The third line of enquiry pertains to the interaction between strains of M.tuberculosis and the complement system. In this, the interaction of a number of strains of the tubercle bacillus lacking various components like the DevR, tyrosine phosphatase genes and the virS gene with the complement system, their role in modulating the expression of complement receptors on peripheral blood mononuclear cells and the release of cytokines from these cells are being studied.