A modified compound taken from bloodroot, a wildflower native to North America, effectively fights multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) bacteria in the test tube, according to a new study. The discovery, published in Microbiology Spectrum , shows promise for further testing with the ultimate goal of finding new drugs to treat TB, the leading infectious killer after COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization. There's an urgent need to improve our pipeline of drugs to address multidrug-resistant strains of TB, to either reduce the required treatment time or tackle the development of resistance.
The drugs currently used for treatment are more than 50 years old. Unlike other bacterial infections, treating tuberculosis takes at least six months using a combination of drugs, which puts significant strain on the human body." Dr.
Jim Sun, senior author, assistant professor, UBC department of microbiology and immunology Synthesized from bloodroot To find new potential candidates for TB treatment, the researchers looked to sanguinarine, a compound extracted from the bloodroot plant which has known antimicrobial and antiseptic properties. Compounds derived from natural sources are great candidates for anti-infection drug development, but also tend to be more toxic to humans. The research team modified sanguinarine to increase its potency and reduce its toxicity, creating 35 new derivatives including two - BDP9 and BPD6 - that inhibited growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis , t.