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Tuberculosis is a major public health concern in the United States, and continues to be the biggest infectious killer of human kind across the globe. To fight the disease, researchers are working to develop a novel treatment using the powers of a protein already produced by the human body.
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University of Florida researchers have identified a naturally occurring protein, called heme-oxygenase-one (heem- oxygen-ace one), and are studying whether it could boost the body’s bacteria-battling defenses against tuberculosis, or TB. The deadly lung disease kills someone every six seconds and nearly one-third of the world’s population is infected with the bacterium that causes it. Also worrisome is the rise of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, some of which have no known cure. These strains appear in the US when infected patients don’t adhere to anti-TB drug regimens. The disease also arrives on American shores via immigrants who unknowingly harbor the TB bacterium. Meanwhile, u-f researchers, together with colleagues in India, say they have seen positive results with the heme-oxygenase protein in laboratory animals and hope the approach will also work in patients.
Dr. Veena Antony UF pulmonary medicine expert:
If we can boost this natural defense mechanism, we could have a tool that could be cheap, that could be easily available not just to us in the United States but to the large numbers of people who are dying with tuberculosis in other parts of the world.
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UF researchers have also discovered that high levels of alcohol consumption deplete this protective protein, making some people more vulnerable to the ravaging effects of TB. Because of their weakened immune system, people living with the HIV virus are also very susceptible to tuberculosis, the largest cause of death in aids patients. They are also more vulnerable to the negative side effects of TB drugs. Experts say their research could have an impact not only on TB deaths, but also on the number of global aids deaths.
Dr. Veena Antony / UF pulmonary medicine expert:
Hopefully if we find this to be true, then this heme oxygenase will turn out to be the factor; then we can buff it up in patients who have HIV and AIDS. They may not require as much medication, they may not have to be treated for so long, it may have implications for other kinds of tuberculosis, which is very common in this country.
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From the University of Florida Health Science Center, I’m Eva Egensteiner.
