According to the World Health Organisation a new instance of Tuberculosis Bacterium (TB) occurs every second. A team of scientist from the University of Maryland have discovered the unique structure and mechanism of an enzyme in M. Tuberculosis, the bacterium which causes the disease. NAD+ synthetise (NadE) is the enzyme which was discovered as essential for the survival of the tuberculosis bacteria. The discovery of NadE is an important discovery in the treatment and prevention of tuberculosis bacterium as it will act as an important drug target.
Strains of Tuberculosis are beginning to arise around the world that are resistant to all major anti-TB drugs. This discovery of the NAD+ synthetise enzyme is leading the way for the development of new drug therapies that can specifically recognise and target tuberculosis infection. Current treatment of TB is aimed at treating active forms of the virus and does little to treat the non-replicating bacterium. The development of drugs that target the NadE enzyme in the treatment of TB will not only treat active tuberculosis infection it will also be able to treat asymptomatic (latent) forms of tuberculosis as well. This is because the creation of drugs that inhibiting NadE will kill both the replicating and non-replicating bacteria. This will greatly benefit the one third of the world’s population that are carrying asymptomatic tuberculosis infection, ten percent of which will eventually develop the active TB infection. Scientists believe that being able to destroy the TB virus in its latent phase may eventually lead the way to eliminate the disease completely.
By Kelly Webster 41868931
References:
University of Maryland (2009, March 27). Discovery Of Tuberculosis Bacterium Enzyme Paves Way For New TB Drugs. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 29, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com¬ /releases/2009/03/090327152401.htm
