Opportunities for overcoming tuberculosis: Emerging targets and their inhibitors

Drug Discov Today. 2022 Jan;27(1):326-336. doi: 10.1016/j.drudis.2021.09.003. Epub 2021 Sep 16.

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB), an airborne infectious disease mainly caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), remains a leading cause of human morbidity and mortality worldwide. Given the alarming rise of resistance to anti-TB drugs and latent TB infection (LTBI), new targets and novel bioactive compounds are urgently needed for the treatment of this disease. We provide an overview of the recent advances in anti-TB drug discovery, emphasizing several newly validated targets for which an inhibitor has been reported in the past five years. Our review presents several attractive directions that have potential for the development of next-generation therapies.

Keywords: Computer-aided drug design; Drug resistance; Drug target; Host-directed therapies; Tuberculosis; Virtual screening.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

  • Antitubercular Agents / pharmacology*
  • Drug Design / methods*
  • Drug Development / trends*
  • Drug Evaluation, Preclinical / methods
  • Humans
  • Latent Tuberculosis / drug therapy
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis* / drug effects
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis* / pathogenicity
  • Tuberculosis* / drug therapy
  • Tuberculosis* / microbiology
  • Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant / drug therapy

Substances

  • Antitubercular Agents