Reappraising the use of β-lactams to treat tuberculosis

Abstract

The emergence of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis calls for novel approaches to treatment. Recent studies have shown that BlaC, the β-lactamase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is the major determinant of β-lactam resistance. This review invites the reader to explore evidence in order to answer the questions: can β-lactam and β-lactamase inhibitors adequately treat M. tuberculosis infection and are they a viable option in the management of resistant tuberculosis today?

Keywords::

• β-lactam
• β-lactamase
• ampicillin/clavulanate
• clavulanic acid
• l,d transpeptidases
• Mycobacterium tuberculosis
• penicillin-binding protein

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was supported in part by the Veterans Affairs Merit Review Program (RA Bonomo), the NIH (Grant AI072219-05 and AI063517-07 to RA Bonomo), and the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center VISN 10 (RA Bonomo). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.