Deadly protein that causes TB identified, can help
develop novel therapies to treat the disease
Scientists at the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and
Diagnostics (CDFD) have discovered a novel protein which could lead to
development of a therapy for tuberculosis.
Rv1988, the mycobacterial protein identified by a team of scientists, modulates
the human cell’s response to the mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), a
breakthrough which can lead to the development of a drug or become a potential
diagnostic biomarker for active tuberculosis.
The team led by Sanjeev Khosla, group head, Laboratory of
Mammalian Genetics, CDFD, conducted the study, which was recently been
published in the prestigious journal ‘Nature Communications’. CDFD director
Giriraj R. Chandak said they have filed the patent for the discovery and the
centre will now work with clinicians to explore the possibility of developing a
drug. ‘We will now talk to clinicians and private partners like pharma
companies or who have complete know-how in drug development,’ he said, adding
that the task before them was to find how to inhibit this protein or bind an
enzyme which can reverse what this protein does.
‘This is an important discovery because we have come to
know what this organism does. It’s a double whammy here. It not only causes
toxicity but also releases a protein which reduces your capability to respond
to that infection,’ he said. The pathogenic organism produces protein which
enters nucleus of host cell, binds two specific sequences in a gene and
regulate some expressions of specific gene product which are related to immune
function. During the five-month long study, the team tried to understand the
interaction between the pathogenic mycobacteria with the human cell during
infection.
Source: www.thehealthsite.com
04.12.2015
He who has
health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything
Thomas
Carlyle
No comments:
Post a Comment