Tuberculosis often lasts for months and must be treated with several antibiotics at the same time. Gastric acid blockers such as omeprazole could shorten the treatment time for tuberculosis and reduce the chances of the pathogen becoming resistant to drugs.
Treating tuberculosis is difficult and time-consuming because the pathogens can remove antibiotics from inside. As a result, they are not very sensitive or even resistant to the drugs. A research group from the University of Cambridge had found that the blood pressure drug verapamil prevented tuberculosis bacteria from pumping out the antibiotic rifampicin from their insides. Verapamil blocks cell membrane pumps in humans.
Inspired by this, the group tried other substances that are known to inhibit cell membrane pumps – including proton pump inhibitors such as omeprazole, pantoprazole, lansoprazole and rabeprazole, which are used as gastric acid blockers against heartburn and stomach problems. With success: they worked just as well or even better than verapamil.
“Active drug pumps cause the bacteria to develop resistance to antibiotics, a significant problem in the treatment of tuberculosis. There is a possibility that these pump inhibitors could reduce the likelihood of this happening,” said Prof. Lalita Ramakrishnan, who published the study with her team in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
So far, the experiments have only been carried out with cells in the laboratory. If the results are confirmed in clinical studies, they have great potential to accelerate the treatment of tuberculosis and prevent the development of resistance: In 2021, an estimated 10.6 million people worldwide contracted tuberculosis, and 1.6 million died from it.
Which: DOI 10.1073/pnas.2215512120