Women in Science Mentoring Program (2020)
SG-003: Understanding Mycobacterium tuberculosis mediated host metabolomics in pulmonary tuberculosis: correlation with disease severity and treatment course
PI: Senbagavalli Prakashbabu, JIPMER, India
Project Dates: May 2022 – July 2023
Project Overview:
TB infection profoundly modulates the host immune system and metabolism. While the host immunity in response to TB is being extensively studied over the past decade, deciphering and understanding the role of metabolism in TB disease is still at infancy in India. The project aimed to study the longitudinal changes that happen in both lipidomic and non-lipidomic metabolites from the baseline to over the course of anti-TB treatment. The study results will help the team understand the status and the dynamicity of metabolic changes that occur during the disease course which may help develop host-tailored nutritional interventions and treatment strategies in the future.
Study goals:(i) Study the differences in MTB influenced host metabolomics in mild and severe disease groups. (ii) Study the dynamic changes of host metabolites at baseline, during and at the end of the standard anti-TB treatment regimen. (iii) To examine whether there is a correlation between host metabolomics with disease severity and course of standard anti-TB treatment. Mentorship impact
According to the PI, the study helped the project mentees get involved in hands-on activities, such as handling human samples, aliquoting and labelling them appropriately for assay. They were also involved in all group meetings held where the theory of metabolomic studies especially in TB was discussed thoroughly. Following completion of the PEER seed grant the mentees remain involved in extensive statistical analysis and manuscript writing. Dr. Babu also notes, that obtaining this SEED grant has given her an wonderful opportunity to serve as a PI in an independent project as well to train mentees as part of the proposal. This has given her the needed opportunity for her for professional development to pursue full time research in the field of Tuberculosis. Over the course of a year, she allotted considerable time to focus on TB metabolomics which she can consider as her research niche and to start a successful career journey in the field of TB in India.
Potential development impacts
Tuberculosis induced metabolic changes of polar and non polar may provide an opportunity to identify specific markers of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. This study included both mild and severe patients which will show the discriminatory potential of these circulating metabolites for identifying M.tb infection. According to the PI, the results of this preliminary study will will be an eye opener in the filed of TB metabolomics in India and enable future studies on targeted metabolomics.
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