Nanomedicines towards targeting intracellular Mtb for the treatment of tuberculosis

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), causes the most human deaths than any other diseases from a single infectious agent. Treatments are long and costly and have many associated side effects. Intracellular bacilli are slow growing and difficult to target, which is augmenting the emergence of multi-drug resistance. A hallmark trait of TB is the formation of granulomas, chronic cellular aggregates, which limit bacterial growth but provides a survival reservoir where bacilli may disseminate from. Targeting intracellular Mtb is challenging, but nanomedicine may offer a solution. Nanomedicine is a significantly growing research area and offers the potential for specific disease targeting, dosage reduction, and intracellular drug delivery. This review discusses the application of the various forms of nanomedicine towards targeting of Mtb.