Nordic Life Science 1
SCIENCE REPORT RESEARCH NEWS FROM THE NORDIC REGI
ON MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS IS A HUMAN PATHOGEN THAT HAS HAD A STAGGERING GLOBAL IMPACT. THE BACTERIUM MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS CAUSES TUBERCULOSIS IN HUMANS. ONCE INSIDE THE BODY IT MORPHS INTO A TOUGHER FORM THAT CAN WITHSTAND MORE STRESS AND IS HARDER TO KILL. Fredrik Almqvist, Professor, Umeå University UMEÅ cutting down the onerous six-month treatment regimen they prescribe today,” says Almqvist. Scientists at Umeå University have found a molecular compound that prevents and even reverses resistance to the most widely used antibiotic for treating tuberculosis – isoniazid. T UBERCULOSIS IS CAUSED BY the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Once inside the body, it morphs into a tougher form that can withstand more stress and is harder to kill. Rather than look for new and better antibiotics, researcher Christina Stallings, together with her fellow researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and Umeå professor Fredrik Almqvist, decided to look for molecular compounds that could prevent bacteria from becoming resistant. 60 NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG When put in a low-oxygen environment to mimic the stressful conditions that tuberculosis bacteria encounter inside the body, the bacteria come together and form a thin biofilm. This biofilm is resilient to not only low-oxygen conditions but also to antibiotics and other stressors. The researchers found one compound, called C10 that did not kill the tuberculosis bacteria but prevented them from forming a biofilm. “The molecule may also bolster the antibiotic’s power to kill tuberculosis bacteria – even those sensitive to drugs. This could mean that doctors could start thinking about Further experiments showed that blocking biofilm formation with C10 made the bacteria easier to kill with antibiotics and even curbed the development of antibiotic resistance. In addition, one out of a million tuberculosis bacteria spontaneously become resistant to isoniazid when grown under typical laboratory conditions. But when the researchers grew tuberculosis bacteria with isoniazid and the compound, the drug-resistant mutant bacteria never arose. Most surprisingly, the compound even reversed drug resistance. “This could mean that by using a molecule like C10, we can give all those millions of people worldwide who carry isoniazid-resistant tuberculosis the option of using isoniazid again,” says Stallings. “Now we’re working on improving the compound itself so we can start testing it in animals. We are also trying to figure out how it prevents biofilm formation so that we can develop other drugs that target the pathway.” NLS PHOTO MATTIAS PETTERSSON PHOTO NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES (NIAID)