Phosphodiesterase 4 inhibition reduces innate immunity and improves isoniazid clearance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the lungs of infected mice.

ABSTRACT: Tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is one of the leading infectious disease causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Though current antibiotic regimens can cure the disease, treatment requires at least six months of drug therapy. One reason for the long duration of therapy is that the currently available TB drugs were selected for their ability to kill replicating organisms and are less effective against subpopulations of non-replicating persistent bacilli. Evidence from in vitro models of Mtb growth and mouse infection studies suggests that host immunity may provide some of the environmental cues that drive Mtb towards non-replicating persistence. We hypothesized that selective modulation of the host immune response to modify the environmental pressure on the

SUBMITTER: Koo MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3045423 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature