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454 || AWSAR Awarded Popular Science Stories - 2019
Another prospective use of our strategy is that it can be used as a follow-up remedy for the complete clearance of TB infection. One more advantage of our approach is that it is in line with the therapy used for
the treatment of autoimmune
diseases. Tumor necrosis
factor (TNF) blocker therapy
is an effective treatment for
many autoimmune diseases,
but it also increases the risk
of progression of latent TB to
active TB significantly. Thus,
before commencing the TNF
blocker therapy for curing
autoimmune diseases, patients
are first tested for TB infection.
Hence, the use of a drug that
does not involve a TNF blocker can lead to a significant improvement in the treatment of pathogen-induced autoimmunity.
To summarize, our analysis revealed that interacting mimicry-inducing proteins of Mtb contained several chokepoint proteins that could serve as potential drug targets. To inhibit
the chokepoint, protein lead molecules were collected from the DrugBank employing several stringent filters. The DrugBank search revealed three drug compounds (DB01930, DB07349
and DB08185) enlisted in the experimental group and one (DB00759) in the approved group, which might be effective against Mtb. Further, molecular docking was performed to confirm the interaction between target(s) and its cognate drug molecule(s). The drug candidates identified in our study are FDA-approved drug molecules with proven efficiency against many microbial pathogens. In the
future, we plan to experimentally validate our findings through in vitro experiments.
Further, a similar strategy can be employed for repurposing the known drugs and discovering novel therapeutics against other pathogenic bacteria that exhibit molecular mimicry with a host’s proteins.
Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blocker therapy is an effective treatment for many autoimmune diseases, but it also increases the risk of progression of latent TB to active TB significantly.