A team of French and Korean researchers may have discovered the key to overcoming the growing resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to ethionamide (ETH). The new compound currently being tested in mice models, spiroisoxazoline SMARt-420, is believed to inactivate a TetR-like repressor, EthR2, which reactivates the ability of ETH to attack the M. tuberculosis cells. More importantly, this reactivation may circumvent the activation pathways currently responsible for the disease’s drug resistance to ETH treatment.

Click here to review the article published in Nature: Drug Discovery.