Optimal doses of rifampicin in the standard drug regimen to shorten tuberculosis treatment duration and reduce relapse by eradicating persistent bacteria.

Objectives: Although high-dose rifampicin holds promise for improving tuberculosis disease control by eradication of persistent bacteria, the optimal dose of rifampicin that kills persistent bacteria and shortens the treatment duration is unknown. Methods: The Cornell mouse model was used to test the efficacy of rifampicin at elevated doses combined with isoniazid and pyrazinamide to kill actively growing and persistent bacilli and to measure relapse rate. Persistent bacteria were evaluated using Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture supernatant containing resuscitation-promoting factors. Pharmacokinetic parameters and dose-dependent activity for cultivable and persistent bacilli were determined. Results: Increasing doses of rifampicin in combination with isoniazid and pyrazinamide resulted in dose-dependent faster bacterial clearance. Evaluated both on solid media and in culture filtrate containing resuscitation-promoting factors, a regimen containing a standard dose of rifampicin at 10 mg/kg over 14 weeks failed to achieve organ sterility. In contrast, higher doses of rifampicin achieved organ sterility in a much shorter time of 8-11 weeks. Disease relapse, which occurred in 86% of mice treated with the standard regimen for 14 weeks, was completely prevented by rifampicin doses of ≥ 30 mg/kg. Conclusions: In the treatment of murine tuberculosis, a rifampicin dose of 30 mg/kg was sufficient to eradicate persistent M. tuberculosis, allowing shorter treatment duration without disease relapse.

Investigation of Elimination Rate, Persistent Subpopulation Removal, and Relapse Rates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by Using Combinations of First-Line Drugs in a Modified Cornell Mouse Model.

Currently, the most effective tuberculosis control method involves case finding and 6 months of chemotherapy. There is a need to improve our understanding about drug interactions, combination activities, and the ability to remove persistent bacteria using the current regimens, particularly in relation to relapse. We aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects of three main components, rifampin (RMP), isoniazid (INH), and pyrazinamide (PZA), in current drug regimens using a modified version of the Cornell mouse model. We evaluated the posttreatment levels of persistent Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the organs of mice using culture filtrate derived from M. tuberculosis strain H37Rv. When RMP was combined with INH, PZA, or INH-PZA, significant additive activities were observed compared to each of the single-drug treatments. However, the combination of INH and PZA showed a less significant additive effect than either of the drugs used on their own. Apparent culture negativity of mouse organs was achieved at 14 weeks of treatment with RMP-INH, RMP-PZA, and RMP-INH-PZA, but not with INH-PZA, when conventional tests, namely, culture on solid agar and in liquid broth, indicated that the organs were negative for bacteria. The relapse rates for RMP-containing regimens were not significantly different from a 100% relapse rate at the numbers of mice examined in this study. In parallel, we examined the organs for the presence of culture filtrate-dependent persistent bacilli after 14 weeks of treatment. Culture filtrate treatment of the organs revealed persistent M. tuberculosis Modeling of mycobacterial elimination rates and evaluation of culture filtrate-dependent organisms showed promise as surrogate methods for efficient factorial evaluation of drug combinations in tuberculosis in mouse models and should be further evaluated against relapse. The presence of culture filtrate-dependent persistent M. tuberculosis is the likely cause of disease relapse in this modified Cornell mouse model.

High-dose rifampicin kills persisters, shortens treatment duration, and reduces relapse rate in vitro and in vivo.

Although high-dose rifampicin holds promise for improving tuberculosis control by potentially shortening treatment duration, these effects attributed to eradication of persistent bacteria are unclear. The presence of persistent Mycobacterium tuberculosis was examined using resuscitation promoting factors (RPFs) in both in vitro hypoxia and in vivo murine tuberculosis models before and after treatment with incremental doses of rifampicin. Pharmacokinetic parameters and dose-dependent profile of rifampicin in the murine model were determined. The Cornell mouse model was used to test efficacy of high-dose rifampicin in combination with isoniazid and pyrazinamide and to measure relapse rate. There were large numbers of RPF-dependent persisters in vitro and in vivo. Stationary phase cultures were tolerant to rifampicin while higher concentrations of rifampicin eradicated plate count positive but not RPF-dependent persistent bacteria. In murine infection model, incremental doses of rifampicin exhibited a dose-dependent eradication of RPF-dependent persisters. Increasing the dose of rifampicin significantly reduced the risk of antibiotic resistance emergence. In Cornell model, mice treated with high-dose rifampicin regimen resulted in faster visceral clearance; organs were M. tuberculosis free 8 weeks post-treatment compared to 14 weeks with standard-dose rifampicin regimen. Organ sterility, plate count and RPF-dependent persister negative, was achieved. There was no disease relapse compared to the standard dose regimen (87.5%). High-dose rifampicin therapy results in eradication of RPF-dependent persisters, allowing shorter treatment duration without disease relapse. Optimizing rifampicin to its maximal efficacy with acceptable side-effect profiles will provide valuable information in human studies and can potentially improve current tuberculosis chemotherapy.