Objective
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major public health threat, still emerging in some areas of the world. The major tools to control the TB epidemic are worldwide implementation of the directly observed therapy short course (DOTS) programme and BCG vaccination. However, these methods to control TB are not ideal. The efficacy of BCG vaccination is doubtful and significant problems with resistance against anti-TB drugs have emerged. These problems could be fuelled by the selection of more adapted variants of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
The proposed project aims to further investigate the hypothesis on the selection of M. tuberculosis genotypes by the measures used to control the epidemic; anti-TB treatment and BCG vaccination. These selection mechanisms will be investigated by studying the population structure of M. tuberculosis in various regions by using DNA fingerprint tools. Trends in the dynamics of the population structure (emerging genotypes) will be identified. The association of the various genotypes with drug resistance or possible vaccine escape will be studied. Furthermore, the influence of genetic variability among M. tuberculosis strains on the virulence and immune response induced by these strains and the protection of various vaccines against these strains will be studied in vivo.
In addition, the effect of genetic variation in the M. tuberculosis genome on bacterial adaptability and response to stress will be studied. This will involve in vitro studies of the phenotypic effect of specific drug resistance and other mutations, with an emphasis on mutations in (putative) DNA repair genes. Insights into the adaptation of M. tuberculosis in response to control efforts should allow improved strategies for treatment and control and possibly reveal new targets for intervention.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic healthepidemiologyepidemics prevention
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicineimmunology
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacydrug resistance
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicinepneumologytuberculosis
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugsvaccines
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Topic(s)
Call for proposal
FP6-2005-LIFESCIHEALTH-6
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
STREP - Specific Targeted Research ProjectCoordinator
BILTHOVEN
Netherlands