Express News Service
BHUBANESWAR: In a first-of-its-kind discovery, scientists at Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar, and two other research organisations have uncovered the role of a host protein that can help combat severe bacterial ailments such as tuberculosis (TB), viral infections and address prolonged health complications associated with autoimmune diseases.
As India sets an ambitious goal to eliminate TB by 2025, the discovery is expected to lead to development of a host directed therapy, which could be one of the ways to get over drug resistant TB and drastically reduce incidence.
TB is caused by bacteria mycobacterium tuberculosis and it most often affects the lungs. Every year, 10 million people fall ill with tuberculosis and despite being a preventable and curable disease, 1.5 million people die, making it the world’s top infectious killer.
Researchers have found the host protein nuclear receptor corepressor-1 (NCoR1) as a crucial factor in controlling the growth of TB in lung myeloid cells by regulating its killing ability.
The study revealed that the dynamic expression of NCoR1 is compromised in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells during active tuberculosis infection, which is rescued upon prolonged anti-mycobacterial therapy.
Senior scientist at ILS Dr Sunil Raghav said several proteins that play a role in growth of TB were reported before mostly in the bacteria but not in the host. “This is for the first time, we have discovered the role of NCoR1, which can protect humans from the bacterial infection when its level is not going down and maintained. It is an interesting finding,” he said.
When bacteria infect cells, Raghav said, the protein level goes up. But after some time, the bacteria hijacks it, and then the level of protein starts decreasing, leading to multiplication of bacteria inside the cells. This protein is a potential candidate for host directed therapy, he said.
The scientists have tested it on mice models and some primary cells in humans by removing NCoR1 from immune cells. They studied that the immune system becomes less active on removal of the protein leading to reduced ability to fight infections.
The preliminary results are promising and they hope it would be extremely crucial in daily treatment regimens. Efforts are on to test it on samples of lung cells of TB infected humans.
“Nowadays it is difficult to treat the bacteria with drugs as it has become drug resistant. Researchers are looking into the possibilities to increase the host immunity so that the bacteria can be killed. We will further study how the bacteria hijacks the NCoR1 protein and increases the infection. What is the signalling and how the protein works? We will also find out if there is any method to increase the protein’s level,” Raghav added.
Researchers of the School of Bioscience of KIIT university, Bhubaneswar, and Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad, were also involved in the study that has been published in the recent issue of peer-reviewed scientific journals PLOS Biology and Autophagy. Follow channel on WhatsApp
BHUBANESWAR: In a first-of-its-kind discovery, scientists at Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), Bhubaneswar, and two other research organisations have uncovered the role of a host protein that can help combat severe bacterial ailments such as tuberculosis (TB), viral infections and address prolonged health complications associated with autoimmune diseases.
As India sets an ambitious goal to eliminate TB by 2025, the discovery is expected to lead to development of a host directed therapy, which could be one of the ways to get over drug resistant TB and drastically reduce incidence.
TB is caused by bacteria mycobacterium tuberculosis and it most often affects the lungs. Every year, 10 million people fall ill with tuberculosis and despite being a preventable and curable disease, 1.5 million people die, making it the world’s top infectious killer.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
Researchers have found the host protein nuclear receptor corepressor-1 (NCoR1) as a crucial factor in controlling the growth of TB in lung myeloid cells by regulating its killing ability.
The study revealed that the dynamic expression of NCoR1 is compromised in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells during active tuberculosis infection, which is rescued upon prolonged anti-mycobacterial therapy.
Senior scientist at ILS Dr Sunil Raghav said several proteins that play a role in growth of TB were reported before mostly in the bacteria but not in the host. “This is for the first time, we have discovered the role of NCoR1, which can protect humans from the bacterial infection when its level is not going down and maintained. It is an interesting finding,” he said.
When bacteria infect cells, Raghav said, the protein level goes up. But after some time, the bacteria hijacks it, and then the level of protein starts decreasing, leading to multiplication of bacteria inside the cells. This protein is a potential candidate for host directed therapy, he said.
The scientists have tested it on mice models and some primary cells in humans by removing NCoR1 from immune cells. They studied that the immune system becomes less active on removal of the protein leading to reduced ability to fight infections.
The preliminary results are promising and they hope it would be extremely crucial in daily treatment regimens. Efforts are on to test it on samples of lung cells of TB infected humans.
“Nowadays it is difficult to treat the bacteria with drugs as it has become drug resistant. Researchers are looking into the possibilities to increase the host immunity so that the bacteria can be killed. We will further study how the bacteria hijacks the NCoR1 protein and increases the infection. What is the signalling and how the protein works? We will also find out if there is any method to increase the protein’s level,” Raghav added.
Researchers of the School of Bioscience of KIIT university, Bhubaneswar, and Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad, were also involved in the study that has been published in the recent issue of peer-reviewed scientific journals PLOS Biology and Autophagy. Follow channel on WhatsApp
