In 2018, around 1.5 million people died from tuberculosis (TB) — an infectious disease that mainly affects the lungs. A major obstacle in the clinical treatment of TB is the long therapy time required to clear the infection. An infected patient needs to take antibiotics for over 6 to 9 months to prevent a relapse — a duration so long that many discontinue their medications. This negligence leads to a recurrence of tuberculosis in such patients and helps Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the bacteria responsible for the disease, to become resistant to drugs.

In a recent study, a group of researchers, led by the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology (MCBL) and Centre for Infectious Disease Research (CIDR) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, have identified factors that aid the tuberculosis bacteria in tolerating drugs for extended durations. Using this new knowledge, they successfully mapped out a drug regimen that uses existing drugs to curb the growth of drug-tolerant Mtb and possibly shorten tuberculosis treatment time.

“This is a significant discovery because we have minimal new drugs to treat tuberculosis. Discovering new anti-tuberculosis drugs is a lengthy process involving tedious approvals, taking 10–20 years to reach clinics from laboratories,” says Prof Amit Singh.

He is an associate professor at MCBL-CIDR and corresponding author of the current study, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine. It was funded by the Wellcome Trust–DBT India Alliance, Department of Biotechnology and DBT-IISc Partnership Program.