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Validation of a Medium-Throughput Method for Evaluation of Intracellular Growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

2010; American Society for Microbiology; Volume: 17; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1128/cvi.00446-09

1556-6811

Daniel Eklund, Amanda Welin, Thomas Schön, Olle Stendahl, Kris Huygen, Maria Lerm,

Bacteriophages and microbial interactions

Intracellular pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis have adapted to a life inside host cells, in which they utilize host nutrients to replicate and spread. Ineffective methods for the evaluation of growth of intracellular pathogens in their true environment pose an obstacle for basic research and drug screening. Here we present the validation of a luminometry-based method for the analysis of intramacrophage growth of M. tuberculosis. The method, which is performed in a medium-throughput format, can easily be adapted for studies of other intracellular pathogens and cell types. The use of host cells in drug-screening assays dedicated to find antimicrobials effective against intracellular pathogens permits the discovery of not only novel antibiotics but also compounds with immunomodulatory and virulence-impairing activities, which may be future alternatives or complements to antibiotics.