New strategy to tackle the bacteria behind tuberculosis

Tiago Beites

Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S) da Universidade do Porto, Portugal

In 2022, tuberculosis caused 1.3 million deaths worldwide and 10 million people contracted the infection. The currently available treatment is effective, but complex. It involves taking four different drugs that have undesirable side effects and must be taken for at least six months. This makes adherence to treatment a challenge and many patients drop out, thus contributing to the rise of antimicrobial resistance.

The situation is even more dramatic in low-income countries, where it is also difficult to obtain antibiotics. Therefore, developing new drugs that can shorten the duration of treatment is crucial, as the World Health Organisation points out.

In this regard, this project will focus its research on a process of adaptation of the bacterium to the host, which is necessary for its survival. It has been observed that the sites where the infection occurs are rich in lipids, which the bacterium causing the disease, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, efficiently uses as nutrients. Paradoxically, lipids, and in particular free fatty acids, can also kill the bacteria.

In previous studies, researchers have identified a set of proteins used by this pathogen to survive free fatty acids, and in this project, they will characterise them to better understand the process of adaptation of the micro-organism to humans. This will pave the way for the development of new drugs.

• Robert Jansen, Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences (RIBES), Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

Exploiting host free fatty acids to sterilize Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections

€693,011.00