A recent study has revealed that a new semi-synthetic compound made from natural ingredients exhibits strong effectiveness against tuberculosis (TB), including strains that are resistant to multiple drugs.
The latest research published in the journal Microbiology Spectrum, by the American Society for Microbiology, highlights a promising semi-synthetic compound created from natural substances that demonstrates powerful action against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, even in multi-drug resistant variations. This new compound offers a valuable foundation for the development of innovative and effective treatments for tuberculosis.
M. tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB), is the primary cause of death due to bacterial diseases around the globe. Existing antibiotic treatments for TB are old-fashioned, require extensive treatment periods, and have a significant risk of leading to drug resistance.
In this study, researchers sought out new antibiotics specifically targeting M. tuberculosis that might also work against drug-resistant variants. A promising approach in discovering new antibiotics is to explore natural compounds produced by various organisms like plants, fungi, and bacteria. Sanguinarine, a natural substance extracted from a flowering plant native to North America, is known for its antimicrobial properties. While sanguinarine has been utilized in traditional and alternative veterinary medicine, its toxicity makes it unsuitable for human use.
The research team modified sanguinarine using medicinal chemistry techniques to create a more effective antibacterial compound with lesser toxicity. In laboratory tests and experiments on mice, the modified sanguinarine, known as BPD-9, demonstrated the ability to eliminate strains of M. tuberculosis that resist all standard antibiotics currently used in clinical settings. Furthermore, BPD-9 showed efficacy against dormant and intracellular M. tuberculosis, which are two crucial factors that limit the performance of existing anti-TB medications. The researchers also observed that BPD-9 was selectively effective against pathogenic bacteria within the same genus as M. tuberculosis, potentially preserving the microbiome and other beneficial bacteria that standard antibiotics typically harm.
“Our research introduces a new chemical compound with distinct properties for tackling Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which could be further developed for clinical applications,” stated Jim Sun, Ph.D., the study’s lead author and Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at The University of British Columbia. “The effectiveness of this compound against other members of the Mycobacterium genus may also offer significant advantages in addressing dangerous lung infections caused by non-tuberculous mycobacteria, which are known for their resistance to most antibiotics. It is also interesting to consider that BPD-9 might act on Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a novel manner compared to existing anti-TB drugs.”
This study was a collaborative effort involving the medicinal chemistry team led by Weibo Yang, Ph.D. at the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the bacterial genetics team of Marcel Behr, M.D., and Andréanne Lupien, Ph.D. at McGill University. Financial support for the research came from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the National Sanitarium Association.
