Cholesterol is known to slow the activity of tuberculosis, and the new research suggests a modified version of the compound could stop the bacteria responsible for the deadly infections from growing altogether.
“The results presented here thus implicate a distinct and more robust mechanism of growth inhibition,” study authors concluded. “They define a new paradigm for the development of agents that can, at least in culture, block the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Further exploration of this paradigm is a promising route for the development of therapeutically useful inhibitors.”
The findings are published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
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