Natural Antioxidants: An Approach Towards Tuberculosis Management

Tuberculosis (TB) has been reported to have fifth highest fatality rate in the world, a disease claiming between 2 and 3 million lives a year. One of the important reasons why this killer parasite is spiraling out of control at an alarming rate is attributed to the prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains and emergence of AIDS-related TB. Focus has now been shifted towards development of compounds from natural sources that have antimycobacterial activity. The incorporation of such compounds, like polyphenols namely Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) from green tea, as the natural component of tuberculosis treatments has been studied here. Reactive oxygen species and tumor necrosis factor (TNF- ) are the hallmarks of tuberculosis. The augmented expression of TNF- at both the gene and protein levels in MTB-infected monocytes is suppressed by EGCG in dose-dependent manner. Also,EGCG ameliorated the IFN- levels, the glutathione peroxidase activity, which correlated inversely with the downregulation of ROS and TNF- in MTB-infected monocytes. Hence, EGCG may prove to be a valuable natural antioxidant in tuberculosis management.

Autorentext

Postdoc Fellow, 2010: Dept of Cancer and Cell Bio,University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA. Research Associate, 2009: Parasite-Immun Lab, Dept of Biotechnology, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi. Research Associate, 2008: Cytogenetics lab, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Ph.D in Biochemistry: J.N.Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India.