在反击结核病的战争中，几种有前景的药物开发策略正在出现。结核病如今每年仍然夺去将近200万人的生命，其中大多数在发展中国家。

　　As the bacterium — Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) — evolves to resist anti-TB drugs, and patients find it difficult to stick to existing drug regimes the search is on for both new drugs and good diagnostics.

　　随着结核分枝杆菌（Mtb）进化成可以耐受抗结核药物，而患者感到很难坚持接受现有的药物治疗框架，科学家正在寻找新药和好的诊断方法。

　　Some promising drugs are in early clinical trials — for example PA-824, which could reduce the time needed to treat TB — but the odds are stacked against them because fewer than ten per cent of antibiotics that enter early clinical trials ever gain approval.

　　一些有前景的药物正在进行早期临床试验——例如可能缩短结核病治疗时间的PA-824——但是它们面临的情况不利，因为只有不到10%的进入早期临床试验阶段的抗生素获得了批准。

　　But researchers are finding that "omics" — fields involving the study of genes, proteins and metabolism — offer the potential to unlock new information about the bacterium and its interactions with people in unprecedented detail.

　　但是科学家正在发现“组学”——研究基因、蛋白质和代谢的领域——提供了破解关于这种细菌及其与人类相互作用的空前详细的新信息的潜力。

　　As well as genomics, proteomics and metabolomics, scientists are also using chemical genomics, an approach that reverses the standard drug discovery process.

　　除了基因组学、蛋白质组学和代谢组学，科学家还在使用化学基因组学，这是一种逆转标准的药物发现过程的方法。

　　Mtb lives among plenty of competitor bugs equipped with their own weapons to keep the bug in check. Scientists are trying to understand how these rival bacteria have evolved and are applying modern omics tools to identify the defensive molecules, screen them for their anti-TB potential and pinpoint just where they strike at Mtb.

　　结核分枝杆菌与其他大量的竞争者细菌生活在一起，后者拥有自己的武器从而控制前者。科学家正在设法理解这些对手细菌如何进化，并利用现代组学工具发现这些防御性的分子，筛选它们的抗结核潜力，并确定它们攻击结核分枝杆菌的位置。

　　This approach "could well uncover entirely new classes of drugs".

　　这种方法“非常可能发现全新类型的药物”。

　　Other fields seek to enhance knowledge about the bacterium itself. Structural genomics, for example, aims to uncover the three-dimensional structure of every protein in Mtb.

　　其他领域寻求强化关于这种细菌本身的知识。例如，结构基因组学着眼于发现结核分枝杆菌的每一个蛋白的三维结构。

　　The ultimate goal is to replicate Mtb "in silico"— that is, "produce a computer simulation of the bacterium that behaves just like the real thing does in the body". Scientists should then be able to predict which bacterial components will make the best drug targets — and which candidate drugs will hit those targets most effectively.

　　终极目标是“在硅片上”复制结核分枝杆菌——也就是“开发计算机模拟的这种细菌，它的行为就像真实的细菌在人体内的行为”。科学家然后就可以预测细菌的哪个部分是药物的最佳靶标——以及哪种候选药物将最有效地打击这些靶标。

　　Researchers are confident that, based on current progress,they will be able to achieve this within the next 20 years.

　　根据目前的进展，科学家相信将在未来的20年中实现这一目标。

　　本文由科学与发展网络(SciDev.Net)独家提供。

(责任编辑：泉水)