Drugging the Folate Pathway in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: The Role of Multi-targeting Agents.

Cell Chem Biol
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

The folate biosynthetic pathway offers many druggable targets that have yet to be exploited in tuberculosis therapy. Herein, we have identified a series of small molecules that interrupt Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) folate metabolism by dual targeting of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), a key enzyme in the folate pathway, and its functional analog, Rv2671. We have also compared the antifolate activity of these compounds with that of para-aminosalicylic acid (PAS). We found that the bioactive metabolite of PAS, in addition to previously reported activity against DHFR, inhibits flavin-dependent thymidylate synthase in Mtb, suggesting a multi-targeted mechanism of action for this drug. Finally, we have shown that antifolate treatment in Mtb decreases the production of mycolic acids, most likely due to perturbation of the activated methyl cycle. We conclude that multi-targeting of the folate pathway in Mtb is associated with highly potent anti-mycobacterial activity.

Year of Publication
2019
Journal
Cell Chem Biol
Volume
26
Issue
6
Pages
781-791.e6
Date Published
2019 06 20
ISSN
2451-9448
DOI
10.1016/j.chembiol.2019.02.013
PubMed ID
30930162
PubMed Central ID
PMC6588435
Links
Grant list
R01 AI104841 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
R01 AI111957 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States