New sugar approach to TB treatment

Experts are looking at the way in which sugar units are strung together as they attempt to find new treatments for TB.

Sugar molecules join up in long carbohydrate polymers, with exact numbers required to ensure they work properly.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) have indicated that very little is known about these polymers at present.

However, Laura Kiessling, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UW-Madison, claimed that by focusing on an enzyme called GlfT2 that is responsible for building a carbohydrate-based part of the TB bacterial cell wall, new treatments could be developed.

"There's not much known about how length is controlled in these carbohydrate polymers," she said in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Our mechanism provides a blueprint for strategies to block a new anti-mycobacterial target. It's a nice illustration of how basic research can lead to applications that are very practical."

New TB treatments are required as more strains of the disease are becoming drug-resistant.

News brought to you by Global Health TV, connecting health communities