About the project
We have studied 6-aryl-9-alkylpurines, as potential antituberculosis drugs, and we have already identified a drug-candidate with an in vitro activity against Mtb comparable with the first-line drug rifampicin.
Outcomes
Our class of potential TB drugs are inactive towards other classes of bacteria. Furthermore, the compounds exhibit no cross-resistance with today’s commonly used TB-drugs, and the purines generally exhibit low toxicity towards mammalian cells.
All these findings point towards an organism-specific and novel mechanism of action. We are now synthesizing non-purine analogs of the compounds discussed above and these products are evaluated as potential antimycobacterials.
Financing
The project was financed by NFR – KOSK II (2007-2010).
Cooperation
Personnel: Matthew L. Read (PhD student / research fellow), Abhijit D. Khoje (PhD student / research fellow), L.-L. Gundersen (project leader).
External collaborators: The Tuberculosis Antimicrobial Acquisition and Coordinating Facility, Dr. Colin Charnock (Oslo University College).
Former participants
Pedro Miranda (post doc), Morten Brændvang (PhD student / research fellow). Anne Kristin Bakkestuen (PhD student / research fellow).