Anti-TB lead compounds from the bryophytes

Tuberculosis (TB) and mycobacterial related diseases represent a serious health problem causing almost two million deaths annually 1, 2 . About one third of the world population is latently infected with TB and 10 percent of these people will suffer from a manifestation of the disease at some point. Successful TB treatment requires at least six months of intense medical care and the combination of at least four different anti-tubercular drugs 3 . This and the ongoing dissemination of the disease in Africa and some East- European countries indicate an urgent need for new antimycobacterial drugs. Natural products are known to exhibit significant antibacterial and antimycobacterial properties, which can offer new ideas for the development of antibiotics 4, 5 . Bryophytes (mosses, liverworts, hornworts) represent a group of plants that have been hardly investigated but shown interesting biological activities. The primary objective of this project performed at the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), will be the isolation and structure elucidation of antimycobacterial compounds from bryophytes by the use of an innovative bioassay guided fractionation strategy. Based on the data obtained during the isolation procedure, active single compounds will be analysed on specific aspects of their mode of action in collaboration with the Institute for Tuberculosis Research (ITR) at UIC. The goal of the proposed project is to identify natural products that could be used as valuable templates for new antimycobacterial compounds, and to promote the development of new anti-tubercular drugs through the investigation of a previously unscreened group of organisms. 1. Tripathi R.P.; Tewari N.; Dwivedi N.; Tiwari V.K., Fighting Tuberculosis: An old disease with new challenges. Medicinal Research Reviews 2005, 25, (1), 91-131. 2. Gomez J.E.; McKinney J.D., M. Tuberculosis persistence latency and drug tolerance. Tuberculosis 2004, 84, 29- 44. 3. WHO http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs104/en/. 4. Newton S.M.; Lau C.; Wright C.W., A review of antimycobacterial products. Phytotherapy Research 2000, 14, 303-322. 5. Okunade A.L.; Elvin-Lewis M.P.F.; Lewis W.H., Natural antimycobacterial metabolites: current status. Phytochemistry 2004, 65, (8), 1017-1032.