opc-67683 and Mycobacterium-avium-intracellulare-Infection

Topics: Antitubercular Agents; Humans; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Mycobacterium avium Complex; Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare Infection; Nitroimidazoles; Oxazoles

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is one of the most successful bacterial parasites of humans, infecting over one-third of the population of the world as latent infection without clinical manifestations. Over 8.8 million new cases and nearly 2 million deaths by tuberculosis (TB) occur annually. TB poses a significant health threat to the world population. The goal of this symposium is to open new avenues for combating tuberculosis. The speakers have presented their data and provided control strategies against tuberculosis and pulmonary disease due to M. avium complex (MAC) from aspects of molecular epidemiology, pathogenesis, serodiagnosis, new anti-TB drugs, and vaccine development. Drs. Maeda and Murase have reported that the 12-locus VNTR analysis is very useful for molecular epidemiology of M. tuberculosis strains isolated in Japan better than IS6110-RFLP and suggested that the analysis is powerful tool for the molecular epidemiology. Drs. Matsumoto and Kobayashi have discovered a protein, mycobacterial DNA-binding protein 1 (MDPl), overproduced in dormant M. tuberculosis that plays key roles in latent/ persistent infection, disease progression, and host protection. They have concluded that MDP1 may be a possible target for anti-tuberculosis drugs and vaccines. Drs. Kitada and Maekura have developed serodiagnosis of MAC disease based on enzyme immunoassay (EIA) by detecting anti-glycopeptidolipid (GPL) antibody in sera of human patients. GPL is specific for MAC. The EIA is a simple, rapid and accurate measure with high sensitivity and specificity. The levels of antibody also reflect disease activity. A large-scale clinical multicenter study is currently in progress. Dr. Makoto Matsumoto has discovered an innovative new anti-TB drug, OPC-67683 that is a derivative of nitroimidazole compounds. OPC-67683 inhibited mycolic acid synthesis and exerted potent antimycobacterial activity, including multidrug-resistant M. tuberculosis. Multidrug therapy using OPC-67683 could also shorten the course of chemotherapy. The drug is clearly the most promising new anti-TB agent that has been identified in many years. Dr. Okada has presented the vaccine candidates for TB, such as HVJ-liposome/HSP65 DNA+IL-12 DNA and HVJ-envelope/HSP65 DNA+IL-12 DNA. The candidates exhibited an excellent protective efficacy in mice compared to current BCG vaccine, and improved histopathologic lesions induced by M. tuberculosis infection. The candidates also exerted the therapeutic effect in mi

Topics: Animals; Antitubercular Agents; Bacterial Proteins; Bacteriology; DNA-Binding Proteins; Drug Design; Humans; Immunoenzyme Techniques; Japan; Mice; Minisatellite Repeats; Molecular Epidemiology; Mycobacterium avium Complex; Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare Infection; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Nitroimidazoles; Oxazoles; Serologic Tests; Tuberculosis Vaccines; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary