Autophagy, a Possible Future Approach for Tuberculosis Treatment

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the most important contributing factor for tuberculosis (TB), is approximately responsible for the dormant infection of around one-third population of the world and is still one of the most threatening bacterial pathogens for human communities, despite the fact that its treatment (streptomycin, isoniazid, and rifampin) has been available since 1944.1 It is worth to mention that few latent infected individuals usually develop active disease, however it causes significant number of around eight million new TB cases and nearly 1.5 million deaths per year.1 TB is a serious health issue in Sistan, an area located in the east of Iran near Afghanistan border with a population of about 0.4 million and belonging to the Sistan and Baloochestan province (31°1'43" N, 61°30'4"E).2 It has been reported that TB is known as sad-disease with the incidence about 100 per year and 195 patients per 100 000 in Hirmand town, while TB incidence in Iran is 21 per 100 000.3-5 In the past few years, multidrug-resistance (MDR) and extensively drug-resistance (XDR) have become serious problems in TB treatment (over 20% of new infections)6 and currently many researches focus on finding a way against MDR and XDR for TB treatment.