Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) resistant to current first-line antibacterial agents is a serious and growing public health threat, causing nearly 500,000 new tuberculosis (TB) cases and 170,000 deaths annually. Treatments for drug-sensitive disease are lengthy, complex, and patient noncompliance exacerbates the development of drug-resistant (DR) TB cases, for which treatments are even more prolonged, toxic, expensive, and have lower cure rates. The current proposal is designed to develop an innovative combination regimen using an existing second line drug, Capreomycin, a new class of superior bactericidal antibiotic, Sutezolid, and a candidate therapeutic vaccine delivered as an inhaled product that offers significant potential to improve treatment of DR-TB. An effective treatment that targets both the pathogen and boosts the host immune response to accelerate bacterial clearance, prevent relapse, and shorten therapy, would play an important role in dramatically reducing the impact of the Mtb pathogen. We will leverage the strength of proprietary vaccine adjuvants, and a clinical stage vaccine antigen, ID93, that has entered Phase 2 human clinical testing. This application is an extension of our systematic and methodical approach towards controlling TB. Over the last twenty years, we have applied this strategy towards developing viable vaccine candidates such as M72/AS01E and ID93/GLA- SE (both in clinical stage testing). At present, to our knowledge, ID93/GLA-SE is the sole TB vaccine candidate in the pipeline that has been tested for efficacy against DR-TB, as well as for prophylaxis and therapy in multiple animal models of TB. Funding this R01 project to develop a candidate therapeutic vaccine used as adjunctive treatment with drugs for DR-TB will address this global infectious disease threat.

Public Health Relevance

The global impact of tuberculosis (TB), with over 8 million cases and 1.3 million deaths annually is exacerbated by the increased prevalence of multi-drug resistant TB. Development of an innovative therapeutic vaccine delivered as an inhaled adjunctive treatment with an existing second line drug and a new class of superior bactericidal antibiotic to boost host immune responses and treat TB rapidly with sterilizing outcomes will yield a candidate therapeutic product that offers significant potential for the treatment of drug resistant TB.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AI125160-04
Application #
9688451
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAI1)
Program Officer
Eichelberg, Katrin
Project Start
2016-05-01
Project End
2021-04-30
Budget Start
2019-05-01
Budget End
2020-04-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2019
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Infectious Disease Research Institute
Department
Type
DUNS #
809846819
City
Seattle
State
WA
Country
United States
Zip Code
98102
McNeil, Matthew B; Dennison, Devon D; Shelton, Catherine D et al. (2017) In Vitro Isolation and Characterization of Oxazolidinone-Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 61:
McNeil, Matthew B; Dennison, Devon; Shelton, Catherine et al. (2017) Mechanisms of resistance against NITD-916, a direct inhibitor of Mycobacterium tuberculosis InhA. Tuberculosis (Edinb) 107:133-136