New Strategy to Combat Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis
Researchers have developed a new small molecule drug that could treat multi-resistant tuberculosis (TB)—the form of the illness that cannot be cured with conventional therapies—according to a recent study.
“Multi-drug resistant TB is spreading rapidly in many parts of the world,” said Vasu Nair, PhD, lead author of the study and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Drug Discovery in the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy.1
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“There is a tremendous need for new therapies, and we think our laboratory has developed a strong candidate that disrupts fundamental steps in the bacterium's reproduction process,” he said. 1
The researchers created a compound that disrupts the process in which RNA polymerase (RNAP) creates TB RNA, which in turn thwarts the growth of bacterium and keeps it from reproducing and spreading infection. 1,2
The compound works by binding to specific amino acies and magnesium within the bacteria, and has a half-life of just over 14 hours, meaning that all traces of the drug would excrete normally through bodily functions. 1,2
The complete study is published in the January issue of Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters.
-Michelle Canales Butcher
References:
1. University of Georgia. UGA researchers discover potential treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis. February 19, 2015. http://news.uga.edu/releases/article/potential-treatment-for-drug-resistant-tuberculosis-0215. Accessed February 25, 2015.
2. Nair V, Okello MO, Mangu NK, et al. A novel molecule with notable activity against multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2015 January [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2015.01.050.