IL17A and meningeal tuberculosis: Post-mortem analyses corroborated these findings, demonstrating that D-NAC reduced microglial inflammation and IL-17a levels, while improving myelination and BBB integrity.<h4>Conclusions</h4>This study establishes D-NAC as a promising host-directed theranostic strategy for TB meningitis and supports the clinical potential of dendrimer nanoplatforms to diagnose and treat central nervous system infections.