OZ439-Induced Autophagy: A Novel Approach to Combat Drug-Resistant Mycobacterium abscessus
Category: Research Poster
Author(s): Elizabeth Williams
Presenter(s): Elizabeth Williams
Mentors(s): Mary Jackson, William Wheat, Juan Belardinelli
Due to the rapidly growing amount of drug-resistant non-tuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM) which cause an increasing number of pulmonary infections particularly in immunocompromised patients, new methods of treatment must be developed for NTMs. Therefore, the objective of this experiment is to investigate the role of the ozonide OZ439 in stimulating autophagy in human macrophages. The hope is that OZ439 is inducing the autophagy process in macrophages, to help the immune system clear the infection without relying solely on unreliable antibiotics. To visualize autophagy in OZ439 treated macrophages, western immunoblotting is utilized to detect the production of LC3-II as a function of dosage with OZ439 and time after treatment. The expected result is that the treatment of macrophages with OZ439 will be at least partially responsible for the killing of intracellular Mycobacterium abscessus. If this is the case, it is the hope that this approach will minimize the selection of antibiotic-resistant strains which inevitably develop with treatment using suboptimal drugs.