In England and Wales around 400 people die each year from the disease. The top challenge for TB control in the European region is multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). Eight per cent of the bacteria causing TB in patients are resistant to one or more drugs and one per cent show multidrug resistance. Left untreated, a person with infectious TB of the lungs infects around 10 to 15 people every year.
In a study published on 1st March 2005 in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, a combined team discovered the structure of a protein known as resuscitation promoting factor (Rpf). Five versions of the Rpf protein exist in TB bacteria. The paper's unveiling of the molecular structure of Rpf could be crucial to the treatment of TB in the future.
Dr John Ward, Dept of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UCL, said: "The discovery of Rpf in the TB bacteria could allow the development of methods to 'wake-up' all dormant bacteria in a patient allowing antibiotics to kill the bacteria and cure the disease."
The team includes Prof Brian Henderson at the UCL Eastman Dental Institute, Nicholas Keep from Birkbeck, University of London, and John Ward at UCL as well as researchers from INSERM Montpellier.
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology