A Database Of TB Drug Resistance Mutations

Main Category: Tuberculosis
Also Included In: MRSA / Drug Resistance;  Respiratory / Asthma;  Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Article Date: 11 Feb 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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The emergence and spread of drug-resistant TB threatens global TB control efforts. There is an urgent need for new diagnostic tests that rapidly identify drug sensitivity profiles of M. tuberculosis strains and for new drugs to treat resistant disease. In this week's PLoS Medicine Andreas Sandgren (Harvard School of Public Health, USA) and colleagues describe how they established a comprehensive database listing mutations associated with TB drug resistance and the frequency of the most common mutations associated with resistance to specific drugs.

The researchers have made this interactive database publicly available at www.tbdreamdb.com so that it can serve as a resource for the development of molecular diagnostics for TB. Other uses of the database include structural mapping of mutations to study mechanisms of resistance for drug discovery purposes.

Citation:
Sandgren A, Strong M, Muthukrishnan P, Weiner B, Church GM, et al. (2009)
"TB Drug Resistance Mutation Database."
PLoS Med 6(2): e1000002." doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000002
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PLoS Medicine is an open access, freely available international medical journal. It publishes original research that enhances our understanding of human health and disease, together with commentary and analysis of important global health issues. For more information, visit www.plosmedicine.org

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