RESUMEN
Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) causes chronic lung disease in immunocompetent people and disseminated infection in patients with AIDS. MAC is intrinsically resistant to many conventional antimycobacterial agents, it develops drug resistance rapidly to macrolide antibiotics, and patients with MAC infection experience frequent relapses or the inability to completely eradicate the infection with current treatment. Treatment regimens are prolonged and complicated by drug toxicity or intolerances. We sought to identify biochemical pathways in MAC that can serve as targets for novel antimycobacterial treatment. The cytochrome P450 enzyme, CYP51, catalyzes an essential early step in sterol metabolism, removing a methyl group from lanosterol in animals and fungi, or from obtusifoliol in plants. Azoles inhibit CYP51 function, leading to an accumulation of methylated sterol precursors. This perturbation of normal sterol metabolism compromises cell membrane integrity, resulting in growth inhibition or cell death. We have cloned and characterized a CYP51 from MAC that functions as a lanosterol 14alpha-demethylase. We show the direct interactions of azoles with purified MAC-CYP51 by absorbance and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, and determine the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of econazole, ketoconazole, itraconazole, fluconazole, and voriconazole against MAC. Furthermore, we demonstrate that econazole has a MIC of 4 mug/ml and a minimum bacteriocidal concentration of 4 mug/ml, whereas ketoconazole has a MIC of 8 mug/ml and a minimum bacteriocidal concentration of 16 mug/ml. Itraconazole, voriconazole, and fluconazole did not inhibit MAC growth to any significant extent.
Asunto(s)
Clonación Molecular , Sistema Enzimático del Citocromo P-450/metabolismo , Mycobacterium avium/enzimología , Oxidorreductasas/metabolismo , Antiinfecciosos/farmacología , Antifúngicos/química , Antifúngicos/farmacología , Azoles/química , Azoles/farmacología , Catálisis , Inhibidores Enzimáticos del Citocromo P-450 , Sistema Enzimático del Citocromo P-450/genética , Sistema Enzimático del Citocromo P-450/aislamiento & purificación , Relación Dosis-Respuesta a Droga , Farmacorresistencia Microbiana , Espectroscopía de Resonancia por Spin del Electrón , Inhibidores Enzimáticos/química , Inhibidores Enzimáticos/farmacología , Macrólidos/farmacología , Espectrometría de Masas , Pruebas de Sensibilidad Microbiana , Oxidorreductasas/antagonistas & inhibidores , Oxidorreductasas/genética , Oxidorreductasas/aislamiento & purificación , Proteínas Recombinantes/metabolismo , Esterol 14-DesmetilasaRESUMEN
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common disorder with symptoms of chronic cough and progressive dyspnea caused by chronic bronchitis or emphysema. Acute exacerbations of COPD contribute to the accelerated decline in lung function characteristic of this disease and are associated with significant cost, morbidity, and mortality for patients. Controversy exists as to whether exacerbations are caused primarily by inflammation, infection, or perhaps a combination of both conditions. Advances in the pathogenesis of COPD have shed light on the role of inflammation in this condition and highlighted the differences in the inflammatory response present in COPD compared with asthma. Infectious agents often are suspected as causing acute exacerbations of COPD, and antibiotics are frequently prescribed empirically to patients. We review the evidence for an inflammatory and infectious etiology for exacerbations of COPD and compare and contrast how each impacts on this disease.