Lipid containing nanodrug delivery system for the treatment of Tuberculosis

Abstract

Challenges in treatment of Tuberculosis (TB) include non-specific localisation of the drugs which results in too low concentrations of the drugs reaching the target site of infection, thus leading to reduced effectiveness. To improve the current inadequate therapeutic management of TB, a polymeric nanodrug delivery system, for anti-TB drugs was developed by a double emulsion evaporation technique. The system could enable entry, targeting, sustained release for longer periods and uptake of the antibiotics in the cells, hence reducing the dose frequency and simultaneously improve patient compliance. The cell wall envelope of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) contains unique high molecular weight lipids. Of these, the most abundant are mycolic acids (MA), an extended family of long 2-alkyl 3-hydroxyl fatty acids, typically 70-90 carbon atoms in length, with peculiar physical and biological properties. MA have further been shown to have a similarity in the structural properties with cholesterol1. MA were explored as the targeting agent to infected macrophages containing abundance of cholesterol.