Reporter Phages for Diagnosis of Drug-Resistant TB in HIV High-Burden Populations

描述（由申请人提供）：没有哪个地方比南非更能引起耐药结核病的警报，在那里，地方性结核病和艾滋病毒之间的协同作用导致了结核病发病率和病死率的“爆炸性”增长。最具耐药性的结核病——广泛耐药结核病（XDR-TB）在南非日益流行。提高广泛耐药结核病患者存活率的一个重要障碍是缺乏一种快速的生物标志物来识别活的结核分枝杆菌，允许在临床痰样本中进行药敏试验并检测结核分枝杆菌

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Nowhere has drug-resistant TB generated more alarm than in South Africa, where synergies between endemic TB and HIV have caused 'explosive' increases in TB incidence and case- fatality rates. The most resistant form of TB, extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), is increasingly prevalent in South Africa. An important obstacle to improving survival for XDR-TB is the lack of a rapid, biomarker that serves to identify viable Mtb, allow drug susceptibility testing in clinical sputum samples and detect Mtb persisters. Utilizing three novel recombinant reporter mycobacteriophages, we have developed assays with superior test characteristics that will allow us to characterize complex drug resistance and mycobacterial persistence in vivo to improve treatment outcomes for drug-resistant TB/HIV patients. This proposal is a result of an ongoing funded collaboration between researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Research in Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS (K-RITH), and the Centre for AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA). This is an innovative approach with the potential to make a substantial impact in our ability to rapidly diagnose drug-resistant tuberculosis thereby improving treatment outcomes, reducing transmission and preventing amplification of drug resistance on treatment.