Tuberculosis (TB) is a long-lasting bacterial infection that affects people worldwide and poses a significant health challenge. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the major causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), known for its ease of transmission and ability to persist in the environment. TB can remain dormant in the body without showing symptoms and later become active and contagious, posing a challenge in predicting its reactivation.
Due to the constraint of studying TB in humans, ethical concerns, and limited data on TB-infected individuals prompt research on naturally TB-infected cynomolgus macaques. To investigate the reactivation of latent TB infection, Dr. Saradee Warit, Senior Researcher from Tuberculosis Research Team, Medical Molecular Biotechnology Research Group and her collaborators initiate the clinical study on microRNAs (miRNAs) of infected macaques to enhance the understanding of TB infection mechanisms, potentially leading to improve TB diagnostic tools and apply in new antituberculosis drugs and/or vaccine development for humans use in the future.
In collaboration with National Genomics Data Center, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chulalongkorn University (National Primate Research Center of Thailand (NPRCT) and Faculty of Medicine) and California National Primate Research Center, University of California Davis, USA, this project entitled “Whole genome sequencing and miRNA biomarkers for an enhanced understanding of mechanism of tuberculosis infection in cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis): A translational knowledge to clinical study” is financially supported for 150,000 USD in 3 years by the Alliance of International Science Organization (ANSO).