Role of Mycobacteria Effectors in Phagosome Maturation Blockage and New Drug Targets Discovery

Tuberculosis remains a serious global health threat with nearly 10 million new cases and 1.7 million deaths every year. The emergence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) further complicates this problem. It is pressing to find new ways to combat Mtb. The success of Mtb is largely attributed to its ability to persist within macrophages by arresting phagosomal maturation. The bacterial proteins and lipids play important roles in this inhibition which involves several aspects of phagosomal maturation, including both fusion and fission events and recruitment of V-ATPases allowing acidification. Understanding the interaction between the pathogen and host macrophage is essential to eradicate or control tuberculosis. This review focuses on the mechanism of phagolysosome formation, the pivotal event for the fates of infection participants and abundance of novel drug targets. J. Cell. Biochem. 112: 2688-2693, 2011. (C) 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.