Palmeirim Marta Sólveig, Geluk Annemieke, C de Jong Bouke, M Braet Sofie, R Macaluso Kevin, M Tufariello JoAnn, Lavania Mallika, Singh Itu, Sharma Rahul, Singh Pushpendra, Steinmann Peter
Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland.
University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2025 Aug 11;19(8):e0013370. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0013370. eCollection 2025 Aug.
Leprosy remains a significant public health burden in many low- and middle-income countries, with the transmission pathways of Mycobacterium leprae remaining incompletely understood. The Research to Stop Transmission of Neglected Tropical Diseases (R2STOP) fund was established by two NGOs to address this gap by supporting research projects focused on M. leprae transmission. This article outlines R2STOP's selection process for funding projects and summarizes the impact and findings of the resulting research, illustrating the collective progress in understanding M. leprae transmission.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The funding priorities established by R2STOP in the call were: (i) human-to-human transmission, (ii) non-human reservoirs, (iii) host-pathogen interactions and (iv) transmission networks. R2STOP allocated a total budget of CAD one million to support research projects focused on M. leprae transmission. The selection process involved remote reviews of letters of intent and full proposals, followed by an in-person proposal review meeting where projects were evaluated based on criteria such as significance, innovation, approach, and environmental impact. Final selections were made by a Scientific Review Committee, resulting in the funding of six projects. The funded projects all yielded significant findings from exploring a variety of topics such as persistent transmission in the Comoros islands; the potential role of patients and soil in transmission; ticks' role in transmission to hosts; biomarkers for leprosy progression; ofloxacin resistance in India; and methods to grow M. leprae on axenic media. Twenty-four MSc and PhD students were involved in the six funded research projects, and 29 scientific articles were published.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The R2STOP funding scheme played an important role in advancing our understanding of M. leprae transmission pathways and showcased the relevance of having funds allocated to this neglected aspect of leprosy control. Relevant research continues to be supported through the Leprosy Research Initiative.
在许多低收入和中等收入国家，麻风病仍然是一项重大的公共卫生负担，麻风分枝杆菌的传播途径仍未完全明了。两个非政府组织设立了“终止被忽视热带病传播研究”（R2STOP）基金，通过支持专注于麻风分枝杆菌传播的研究项目来填补这一空白。本文概述了R2STOP资助项目的遴选过程，并总结了相关研究所产生的影响和研究结果，展示了在了解麻风分枝杆菌传播方面取得的共同进展。
方法/主要发现：R2STOP在此次征集活动中确定的资助重点为：（i）人际传播；（ii）非人类宿主；（iii）宿主-病原体相互作用；（iv）传播网络。R2STOP共拨款100万加元，以支持专注于麻风分枝杆菌传播的研究项目。遴选过程包括对意向书和完整提案进行远程评审，随后召开现场提案评审会议，根据重要性、创新性、方法和环境影响等标准对项目进行评估。最终入选项目由科学评审委员会选定，共有六个项目获得资助。这些获得资助的项目在探索各种主题方面均取得了重大发现，例如科摩罗群岛的持续传播；患者和土壤在传播中的潜在作用；蜱虫在向宿主传播中的作用；麻风病进展的生物标志物；印度的氧氟沙星耐药性；以及在无细胞培养基上培养麻风分枝杆菌的方法。24名硕士和博士研究生参与了这六个获得资助的研究项目，共发表了29篇科学论文。
结论/意义：R2STOP资助计划在推进我们对麻风分枝杆菌传播途径的理解方面发挥了重要作用，并表明为麻风病控制这一被忽视的方面分配资金具有重要意义。相关研究通过麻风病研究倡议继续得到支持。
