Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) has been an exceptionally successful
human pathogen over the centuries, infecting almost one-third of the global population.
An exponential increase in tuberculosis (TB) cases, mainly by the drug-resistant (DR)
strains of MTB, has created an urgent need for identifying and developing new
antituberculosis drugs acting via novel mechanisms. The multi drug-resistant (MDR)
TB and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB strains, accelerating through drug specific
resistance amplification, are resistant to a majority of antibiotics used in the treatment
and are challenging to remove from the host’s system. Since proteins are the functional
beings of the biological arrangement, they make promising drug targets for
immunodiagnostics or therapeutics. To identify and characterize such novel proteins,
which directly or indirectly regulatedrug resistance in mycobacteria, proteomics
approaches could be successfully employed. Serological techniques like immunoassay
have higher chances of rendering false positive or false negative results and hence
could be rectified by using more sophisticated techniques like mass spectrometry. In
the past two to three decades, proteomics-based approach has seen a pivotal rise. The
application of proteomics-based approaches has helped to gain insights into MTB and
its relevance to clinical science. They have aided in the identification and
characterization of novel proteins. To have a better understanding of pathophysiology
of MTB, proteome-based science could help simultaneously in the identification of
proteins, which can be potential targets. Recent progress in the area of proteomics has
opened up the doors to address many previously unanswered questions, with studies on
DR-TB being no exception. The Beijing family of MTB forms an interesting candidate
for proteomic analysis as it constitutes 13% of the global isolates and has higher
chances of acquiring drug resistance. Proteomics can play an important role in the
discovery of biomarkers for TB and other diseases. Also, it can aid in the development
of effective vaccines as well as simple, rapid, and cost-effective tests for the diagnosis
of TB, which are crucial for the management and control of the disease.
Keywords: Diagnosis, Drug resistance, Host-pathogen interaction, Mycobacterium,
tuberculosis, Proteomics, Tuberculosis.
