Phosphatidylmyo-inositol mannosides

Phosphatidylmyo-inositol Mannosides (PIM) appear to be a glycolipid component of the cell wall of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. PIM is heavily involved with immune system interaction with M. tuberculosis, and mice that develop antibodies for this glycolipid are better at sustaining a M. tuberculosis infection or defeating it. This assertion that PIM is a very important glycolipid associated with M. tuberculosis goes further and argues that PIM is likely involved with the process by which M. tuberculosis subverts the immune system.