Changing the Rules of TB-Drug Discovery

Abstract

The discovery of new drugs with novel targets is paramount to the continued success of tuberculosis (TB) treatment due to the increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistant infections in the TB population. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) fumarate hydratase (fumarase) is a highly conserved essential protein that shares an active site with human fumarase, making active site inhibition equally cytotoxic for both bacteria and humans. The recent discovery of a set of new Mtb inhibitory compounds that target Mtb-fumarase by binding to a nonconserved allosteric site is a major advancement, providing further evidence to dispel the antibiotic discovery dogma that conserved proteins do not make good antibiotic targets.