Researchers use tiny 3D spheres to combat TB
Researchers at the University of Southampton have developed a new 3D system to study human infection in the laboratory.
The team, which includes infection researchers, engineers and
bioinformaticians in Southampton and University College London,
have used an electrostatic encapsulation technique to make tiny
3D spheres within which human cells are infected with
tuberculosis (TB) bacteria to generate conditions that more
closely reflect events in patients.
The model allows
the researchers to further investigate what happens in a human
body when TB develops, with a long term aim of identifying new
antibiotic treatments and vaccines. The research was funded by
the Medical Research Council and is
published
in mBio and eLife.
Professor Paul Elkington, who leads the Southampton TB research group, commented:
“We believe this is a really exciting development for the
field of tuberculosis research. The 3D sphere can be created
with a collagen matrix so it is more like a human lung. This
produces an environment which allows particular antibiotics that
are important in treating patients to kill the infection, which
they cannot do in other 2D model systems. This system will help
us speed up the process of finding treatments and vaccines for
human tuberculosis, an infection that kills 1.8 million people
per year.”
Additionally the 3D spheres are able
to prolong experiments for up to three weeks, more than four
times longer than standard 2D model systems. This gives
researchers more information about how the infection develops
and the effect of different interventions over time.
The
next phase of the research will be in collaboration with the
African Health Research Institute in Durban, in a project being
funded by an MRC Global Challenges Research Fund Foundation
Award worth £350,000. Durban has a very high incidence of
TB and ideal laboratory infrastructure to introduce the 3D model
to study cells from patients at high risk of tuberculosis.
Professor
Elkington added: “We are delighted to extend our research
and have the opportunity to combine diverse expertise to develop
an advanced laboratory system that can be applied to a wide
range on infections, especially the infections that are
prevalent in resource-poor countries. We will use our 3D model
to integrate engineering and biological approaches with clinical
specimens to create an entirely new system of studying
infection.”
Dr Al Leslie, of the Africa Health
Research Institute, said: "There is a huge amount to be gained
from infectious disease biologists and engineers working
together, as they push each other out of their comfort zones and
force a new perspective on the problem being tackled. This grant
is the start of what we hope to be a long-term collaboration
that will bring real innovation to our TB research programmes
and speed up the pace of discovery to fight this deadly
epidemic."
Source:
University of Southampton
