de Souza Marcus Vinícius Nora, Ferreira Marcelle de Lima, Pinheiro Alessandra Campbell, Saraiva Maurício Frota, de Almeida Mauro Vieira, Valle Marcelo Siqueira
Instituto de Tecnologia em Fármacos-Far-Manguinhos, Rua Sizenando Nabuco,100, Manguinhos, 21041-250 Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Brazil.
ScientificWorldJournal. 2008 Jul 31;8:720-51. doi: 10.1100/tsw.2008.99.
Mycolic acids are an important class of compounds, basically found in the cell walls of a group of bacteria known as mycolata taxon, exemplified by the most famous bacteria of this group, the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb.), the agent responsible for the disease known as tuberculosis (TB). Mycolic acids are important for the survival of M. tb. For example, they are able to help fight against hydrophobic drugs and dehydration, and also allow this bacterium to be more effective in the host's immune system by growing inside macrophages. Due to the importance of the mycolic acids for maintenance of the integrity of the mycobacterial cell wall, these compounds become attractive cellular targets for the development of novel drugs against TB. In this context, the aim of this article is to highlight the importance of mycolic acids in drug discovery.
分枝菌酸是一类重要的化合物，主要存在于被称为分枝杆菌分类群的一组细菌的细胞壁中，以该类群中最著名的细菌结核分枝杆菌（M. tb.）为例，它是导致结核病（TB）的病原体。分枝菌酸对结核分枝杆菌的存活至关重要。例如，它们能够帮助抵抗疏水性药物和脱水，还能使这种细菌通过在巨噬细胞内生长而在宿主免疫系统中更具效力。由于分枝菌酸对维持分枝杆菌细胞壁完整性的重要性，这些化合物成为开发新型抗结核药物的有吸引力的细胞靶点。在此背景下，本文旨在强调分枝菌酸在药物发现中的重要性。
