[A drug delivery system and biological response modifiers for the treatment of mycobacterial infection].

A drug delivery system (DDS) for the treatment of infectious disease has recently been developed. Since liposomal antimicrobial agents are effective on cytozoic bacteria, we applied liposomal streptomycin and amikacin for the treatment of systemic mycobacterial tuberculosis in mice. Liposomal aminoglycosides showed excellent efficacy compared to free aminoglycosides or empty liposome. This therapeutic strategy should be developed for clinical application. Although the human defense mechanism against microbial infection is very complicated, biological response modifiers (BRM) such as vaccination or cytokine therapy have been investigated. One of the most useful and protective vaccines for prevention of tuberculosis is the Mycobacterium vaccae vaccine, developed by Stanford et al. As for the cytokines, interleukin-2, granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor, and tumor necrosis factor have very strong antimycobacterial activity. Interferon alone, however, has weak efficacy, and should be combined with other effective cytokines. These BRM constitute an excellent strategy for antimycobacterial chemotherapy.