Antituberculosis drugs: ten years of research

Bioorg Med Chem. 2007 Apr 1;15(7):2479-513. doi: 10.1016/j.bmc.2007.01.030. Epub 2007 Jan 19.

Abstract

Tuberculosis is today amongst the worldwide health threats. As resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis have slowly emerged, treatment failure is too often a fact, especially in countries lacking the necessary health care organisation to provide the long and costly treatment adapted to patients. Because of lack of treatment or lack of adapted treatment, at least two million people will die of tuberculosis this year. Due to this concern, this infectious disease was the focus of renewed scientific interest in the last decade. Regimens were optimized and much was learnt on the mechanisms of action of the antituberculosis drugs used. Moreover, the quest for original drugs overcoming some of the problems of current regimens also became the focus of research programmes and many new series of M. tuberculosis growth inhibitors were reported. This review presents the drugs currently used in antituberculosis treatments and the most advanced compounds undergoing clinical trials. We then provide a description of their mechanism of action along with other series of inhibitors known to act on related biochemical targets. This is followed by other inhibitors of M. tuberculosis growth, including recently reported compounds devoid of a reported mechanism of action.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antitubercular Agents / chemical synthesis*
  • Antitubercular Agents / pharmacology*
  • Antitubercular Agents / therapeutic use
  • Humans
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis / drug effects
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis / enzymology
  • Tuberculosis / drug therapy
  • Tuberculosis / microbiology

Substances

  • Antitubercular Agents