English: Human bone marrow. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Patients’ own bone-marrow stromal (stem) cells could be used to treat resistant tuberculosis (TB), according to a preliminary study by an international research team.
Conventional treatment for multi-drug resistant TB uses a combination of antibiotics which are toxic to patients. In this study, published today in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, researchers claim using patients’ own bone-marrow stromal cells is safe and could help overcome the body’s excessive inflammatory response, repair and regenerate inflammation-induced damage to lung tissue, and lead to improved cure rates.
The World Health Organization estimates that in Eastern Europe, Asia, and South Africa 450,000 people have multi-drug resistant TB, and around half of these will fail to respond to existing treatments.
TB bacteria trigger an inflammatory response in immune cells and surrounding lung tissue that can cause immune dysfunction and tissue damage. Bone-marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are known to migrate to areas of lung injury and inflammation and repair damaged tissue. They also modify the body’s immune response and could boost the clearance of TB bacteria.
In this phase 1 safety study, 30 patients with multi-drug resistant or extensively-drug resistant TB aged 21–65 years old receiving standard TB antibiotic treatment were also given an infusion of around 10 million of their own stromal cells. The cells were obtained from the patient’s own bone marrow, then cultured into large numbers in the laboratory before being re-transfused into the same patient.
MSC infusion was generally safe and well tolerated. During the 6 months follow-up, no serious adverse events were recorded. The most common grade 1 or 2 adverse events were high cholesterol levels (14 of 30 patients), nausea (11 patients), and lymphopenia or diarrhoea (10 patients).
Further analyses showed 16 patients treated with MSCs were deemed cured at 18 months compared with only 5 of 30 TB patients with similar disease not treated with MSCs.
Co-author Professor Alimuddin Zumla, Professor of Infectious Diseases and International Health at UCL and a BRC-supported researcher, said: “The results of this novel and exciting study show that the current challenges and difficulties of treating multi-drug resistant TB are not insurmountable, and they bring a unique opportunity with a fresh solution to treat hundreds of thousands of people who die unnecessarily of drug-resistant TB.
The Latest on: Multi-drug resistant TB
via Google News
The Latest on: Multi-drug resistant TB
- Tuberculosis not only affects the lungs, but also women’s reproductive health; know moreon May 12, 2022 at 12:00 am
Female genital tuberculosis (FGTB) takes a toll on the fallopian tubes, uterine lining, ovaries, cervix, and vagina/vulva ...
- Uganda still burdened by TB cases — Acengon May 10, 2022 at 5:00 pm
Uganda is still one of the 30 high burdened, tuberculosis (TB) and TB/HIV countries in the world, with about 90,000 developing TB annually, health minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng has said.She said these ...
- Free treatment in selected private hospitals to MDR patients: Mangalon May 9, 2022 at 9:45 am
Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey said multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis patients would get treatment either free or at limited expenditure in selected private hospitals in the state. Mangal ...
- 15,600 Ugandans die due to TB annuallyon May 9, 2022 at 4:04 am
Dr Jane Aceng, the minister of health, however, noted that despite this high burden, Uganda has registered significant progress in the fight against TB ...
- The Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Treatment Market to be backed by digital health recordson May 5, 2022 at 2:50 pm
The WHO has described the global effects of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) as a “public health crisis”. In 2013, an estimated 480,000 new cases and 210,000 deaths were caused by MDR ...
- WHO releases new guidelines for treating drug-resistant TBon May 3, 2022 at 8:06 pm
TB Alliance has developed pretomanid for use in the new all-oral regimens. Patients’ rights groups said the new WHO guidelines were relevant to India which accounts for a fourth of ...
- Africa: Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis Trial Results in Updated Treatment Guidelineson May 3, 2022 at 5:00 pm
Geneva — The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced it will update global guidance on treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), following the results shared from the TB ...
- WHO recommends shorter treatment for drug-resistant TBon May 3, 2022 at 10:00 am
The aid agency on Tuesday released a rapid communication saying that patients aged 15 years and older with multidrug-resistant TB or rifampicin-resistant TB may take a six-month, all-oral regimen ...
- Covid-19 Has Made Tuberculosis Even More Of A Forgotten Pandemicon May 2, 2022 at 5:00 pm
The figures for 2020 reveal a 15% reduction in the number of people treated for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, a 21% decrease in people receiving preventive treatment for tuberculosis ...
via Bing News
