• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Saturday, August 2, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Immunology

Researchers identify faster, more effective drug combinations to treat tuberculosis

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
May 15, 2019
in Immunology
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

IMAGE

Credit: D.L. Clemens

Tuberculosis is a potentially deadly though curable disease. Each year about 10 million people develop active cases, and 1.6 million people die. In addition, about 1.7 billion people around the world are infected with TB bacteria, which can lie dormant for weeks to years, then become active and cause disease in up to 10 percent of those who are infected.

Today, people who contract tuberculosis typically take a course of drugs for six to eight months. However, the length of treatment means some patients don’t stick with the therapy or may develop adverse effects from drug toxicity. Some may develop resistance to the drugs, requiring changes in the drug regimen that can lengthen the treatment to as long as two years. Even worse, there is a high fatality rate among those with drug-resistant TB.

In new research, UCLA scientists have reported finding a way to significantly reduce the duration of treatment by using an approach called “artificial intelligence-parabolic response surface.” This data analysis method identifies which drug combinations work synergistically — that is, individual drugs working together in a way that is more potent than the sum of their individual potencies. The method, when used in cell culture and subsequently mouse models of TB, allowed researchers to quickly identify three- or four-drug combinations among billions of possible combinations of drugs and doses, that significantly cut the duration of TB therapy. These regimens are suitable for treating both drug-sensitive TB and most cases of drug-resistant TB — that is, they are “universal” regimens — and are up to five times faster than the currently available standard treatment.

“If our findings are replicated in human studies, patients will be cured much faster, be more likely to adhere to the drug regimen, suffer less drug toxicity, and be less likely to develop drug-resistant TB,” said Dr. Marcus Horwitz, distinguished professor of medicine and microbiology, immunology & molecular genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and the study’s senior author.

The study is published in the peer-reviewed PLOS One.

The artificial intelligence-parabolic response surface platform was developed by co-author Chih-Ming Ho, distinguished research professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering. The platform has been applied to infectious diseases, cancers and organ transplants.

In all, the researchers evaluated 15 drugs to identify the best four-drug combinations. The two most potent regimens comprised clofazimine, bedaquiline, pyrazinamide, and either amoxicillin/clavulanate or delamanid. Two of the drug regimens achieved a 100 percent cure rate, without relapse, in mice in three weeks. Another regimen cured the mice in five weeks. Both of the drug combinations included currently approved medications, Horwitz said.

Mice who were treated with a standard drug therapy all still had TB bacteria in their lungs after six weeks, and in companion studies, these mice required 16 to 20 weeks to achieve a 100 percent relapse-free cure.

The parabolic response surface regimens do not include isoniazid and rifampin, the two drugs in the standard regimen to which people with multi-drug-resistant TB develop resistance. They also do not include drugs classified as fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides, to which people with strongly drug-resistant TB additionally develop resistance. This means that the parabolic response surface regimens are suitable for treating the majority of even the most drug-resistant cases of TB.

The next step will be to test the drug regimens in humans with tuberculosis who are resistant to the standard drugs used to treat TB. The researchers also plan to expand the therapy platform to include experimental TB drugs to develop even more potent combinations.

###

The study was supported by a subgrant from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, a grantee of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Additional study co-authors are Daniel Clemens, Bai-Yu Lee, Aleidy Silva, Barbara Jane Dillon, Saša Masleša-Galić and Susana Nava of UCLA; and Xianting Ding of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.

Enrique Rivero | May 13, 2019

Media Contact
Enrique Rivero
[email protected]

Original Source

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/drug-combination-regimens-tuberculosis-treatment

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215607

Tags: Developing CountriesDisease in the Developing WorldEpidemiologyInfectious/Emerging DiseasesMechanical EngineeringMedicine/HealthPharmaceutical Chemistry
Share12Tweet7Share2ShareShareShare1

Related Posts

IMAGE

UMass Amherst grad student awarded fellowship for food allergy research

July 23, 2021
IMAGE

Less-sensitive COVID-19 tests may still achieve optimal results if enough people tested

July 22, 2021

Public trust in CDC, FDA, and Fauci holds steady, survey shows

July 20, 2021

USC study shows male-female differences in immune cell function

July 19, 2021
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Blind to the Burn

    Overlooked Dangers: Debunking Common Myths About Skin Cancer Risk in the U.S.

    60 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
  • Neuropsychiatric Risks Linked to COVID-19 Revealed

    43 shares
    Share 17 Tweet 11
  • Dr. Miriam Merad Honored with French Knighthood for Groundbreaking Contributions to Science and Medicine

    46 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 12
  • Study Reveals Beta-HPV Directly Causes Skin Cancer in Immunocompromised Individuals

    38 shares
    Share 15 Tweet 10

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Lorlatinib’s Real-World Impact on ALK+ NSCLC

TrueBeam vs. Halcyon: Breast Cancer Radiotherapy Comparison

Magnesium Implants Boost Bone-Immune Health In Vitro

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.