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. 2022 Mar;28(3):749-751.
doi: 10.3201/eid2803.210394.

Sensitivity of Mycobacterium leprae to Telacebec

Ramanuj Lahiri, Linda B Adams, Sangeeta Susan Thomas, Kevin Pethe

Sensitivity of Mycobacterium leprae to Telacebec

Ramanuj Lahiri et al. Emerg Infect Dis. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

The treatment of leprosy is long and complex, benefiting from the development of sterilizing, rapidly-acting drugs. Reductive evolution made Mycobacterium leprae exquisitely sensitive to Telacebec, a phase 2 drug candidate for tuberculosis. The unprecedented potency of Telacebec against M. leprae warrants further validation in clinical trials.

Keywords: Hansen disease; Mycobacterium leprae; QcrB inhibitors; bacteria; leprosy; telacebec; terminal oxidase; tuberculosis and other mycobacteria.

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Figures

Figure
Figure
Efficacy of telacebec against Mycobacterium leprae bacteria in axenic culture (A), in murine bone marrow–derived macrophages (B), and in athymic nude mouse foot pad model (C, D). M. leprae hsp18 (C) and esxA (D) expression levels were used as a surrogate measure of viability. For panels A and B, the assays were performed in triplicate for each condition. For panels C and D, each foot pad is taken as a data point, and the red dotted lines indicate ≈99% M. leprae kill. Significance was determined by 2-tailed unpaired Student t-test. 14C, carbon 14; CPM, counts per minute; Q203, telacebec; RMP, rifampin.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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