Insights into Innovative Therapeutics for Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis: Host-directed Therapy and Autophagy Inducing Modified Nanoparticles

Since the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB), in the 1880s, TB has been a global pandemic; and it is one of the deadliest infectious diseases after covid-19. To date, TB has claimed the lives of over 1 billion people. With an estimated 10.4 million new cases and 1.7 million fatalities each year, it remains the leading cause of human death owing to a single infectious agent. Drug-resistant tuberculosis is a global problem in the battle against tuberculosis, and it is one of the major causes of the present anti-TB treatment regime's failure. This review is set to view the new research disciplines such as Host Directed Therapeutics (HDTs), autophagy modulation, and Nanotechnology that are emerging to overcome the limits and challenges provided by drug-resistant TB. HDT and autophagy manipulation seeks to improve TB treatment effectiveness by modulating the host's immune response to infection by interfering with the processes required by an Mtb pathogen for progressive persistence and reproduction. Whilst nanotechnology investigates increasing the efficacy of HDT-TB adjuncts and current anti-TB therapeutics by directly delivering them to their intended target while shielding them from premature elimination, allowing them to pass through biological barriers more easily.