Thursday, March 24th is world tuberculosis (TB) day! The date is significant because it commemorates the day in 1882 that Dr. Robert Koch discovered Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the pathogenic bacteria that causes TB.
TB remains among the leading causes of death globally. In fact, one third of the world’s population is infected. With numbers like that it seems unimaginable that TB should be listed as a neglected disease. Co-infection with HIV and the emergence of resistant and extremely resistant strains of the bacteria have led to a worldwide effort to combat this disease, and medicinal chemistry and drug discovery efforts remain the central hope in finding improved therapeutics for this purpose. These topics are covered in an Editorial by Prof. Alan Kozikowski and Prof. Maurizio Botta that appears in a recent special issue of ChemMedChem focused on rare and neglected diseases.
ChemMedChem continues to support this area of crucial research by publishing important results from some of the world’s foremost experts in the field. Below are some recent articles that describe cutting-edge TB research.
- Synthesis and Evaluation of Potent Ene–yne Inhibitors of Type II Dehydroquinases as Tuberculosis Drug Leads
R. J. Payne et al.,
ChemMedChem 2011, 6(2), 262–265.
DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.201000399 - Pyrido[1,2-a]benzimidazole-Based Agents Active Against Tuberculosis (TB), Multidrug-Resistant (MDR) TB and Extensively Drug-Resistant (XDR) TB
A. P. Kozikowski et al.,
ChemMedChem 2011, 6(2), 334–342.
DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.201000490 - Tetrahydrobenzothiophene Derivatives: Conformationally Restricted Inhibitors of Type II Dehydroquinase
C. González-Bello et al.,
ChemMedChem 2011, 6(2), 266–272.
DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.201000343 - Inhibitors of the Salicylate Synthase (MbtI) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis Discovered by High-Throughput Screening
C. C. Aldrich et al.,
ChemMedChem 2010, 5(12), 2079–2087.
DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.201000275
► Also see:
- News: A Drug Pipeline Going Dry
The number of effective anti-tuberculosis (TB) drugs continues to dwindle; can we find new agents for treating drug-resistant TB? - News: Rare and Neglected Diseases
With diseases such as malaria being classed as rare and neglected, ChemMedChem takes a look at the latest research in this field - News: Biomarkers for Tuberculosis
Several promising biomarkers to predict who will fall ill from the tuberculosis bacteria have been identified - News: Protein for New TB Vaccine
Protein secreted by tuberculosis bacteria is a promising candidate for a new vaccine - Editorial: Location, Location, Location
A. Kozikowski, M. Botta,
ChemMedChem 2011, 6(02).
DOI: 10.1002/cmdc.200000528
