Antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis has become a major global health concern, with an estimated 500,000 cases worldwide. Despite the availability of several drugs, the emergence of resistant strains has made treatment difficult, leading to prolonged illness, disability, and even death. However, scientists have been working tirelessly to find new and innovative approaches to combat this dire situation. From repurposing existing drugs to developing new therapies, new research is providing hope for the treatment of tuberculosis, even in cases deemed untreatable. In this article, we will explore some of the novel ways scientists are suggesting to treat antibiotic-resistant strains of tuberculosis.
Researchers at the University of Otago have discovered new treatment possibilities for antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis (TB) strains, which could pave the way for new approaches to tackling the disease that kills around 4,000 people every day. The Department of Microbiology and Immunology’s Lead Author Dr. Matthew McNeil and PhD Candidate Natalie Waller led the efforts to find antibiotics that might rapidly eradicate drug-resistant TB strains and, when combined, could prevent the development of drug resistance completely.
Tuberculosis is one of the hardest infections to treat and a major global cause of infectious disease morbidity and mortality, after only COVID-19. About ten million people develop the disease every year, and it kills about 4,000 people a day. In New Zealand around 300 cases of TB are diagnosed each year. Adding to the challenge is that drug-resistant strains of the disease are spreading at an alarming rate, making it difficult to treat and limiting treatment options.
“We need not only new drugs, but better drug combinations that can improve treatment success and prevent the further spread of antibiotic resistance,” says Dr McNeil. Typically, antibiotic resistance leads to reduced sensitivity, but in some cases, becoming resistant to one antibiotic can make a pathogen more sensitive to other totally unrelated antibiotics which has largely been unexplored until now.
“It is very hardy, resilient and hard to study in the lab because it is a dangerous pathogen that grows extremely slowly. To overcome this, our study used a weakened non-virulent strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis that cannot cause disease or survive outside of the lab to generate strains that were resistant to different antibiotics,” says Dr McNeil.
Researchers then checked whether the drug-resistant strains of the bacterium had either increased or reduced sensitivity to other antibiotics. “We wanted the results of our work to have the greatest chance for clinical impact. For this reason, our study placed an emphasis on drugs that are either clinically approved or in pre-clinical development,” Dr McNeil says.
“Excitingly this work identified a number of instances in which a particular drug-resistant strain was more sensitive to antibiotics that targeted a completely unrelated pathway. We then showed we could use these specific drugs to rapidly kill drug-resistant strains as well as design unique drug combinations that prevented the emergence of drug resistance.”
In summary, the research demonstrates that drug-resistant strains of M. tuberculosis have unique weaknesses that, if identified, can be targeted, greatly reducing treatment times and preventing the emergence of drug resistance. Dr McNeil says that work will now need to focus on further studies in animal models to extend these findings.”There is still work to do, but this is certainly a significant step in the fight against anti-microbial resistance.”
In conclusion, the emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of tuberculosis represents a serious public health threat that requires immediate attention. However, the research presented in this article offers hope for novel ways to tackle this challenge by identifying new drug targets and repurposing existing drugs. While significant work remains to be done, the progress made by scientists thus far raises the possibility of more effective treatment options for those affected by this deadly disease. With continued investments in research and development, we may one day be able to eliminate the scourge of tuberculosis once and for all.
