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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Optimized Protocols for Mycobacterium leprae Strain Management: Frozen Stock Preservation and Maintenance in Athymic Nude Mice
Published on: March 23, 2014
Mycobacterium leprae is naturally resistant to PA-824
Ujjini H Manjunatha1, Ramanuj Lahiri, Baljit Randhawa
1Tuberculosis Research Section, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Rockville, MD 20852, USA.
Abstract:
Leprosy responds very slowly to the current multidrug therapy, and hence there is a need for novel drugs with potent bactericidal activity. PA-824 is a 4-nitroimidazo-oxazine that is currently undergoing phase I clinical trials for the treatment of tuberculosis. The activity of PA-824 against Mycobacterium leprae was tested and compared with that of rifampin in axenic cultures, macrophages, and two different animal models. Our results conclusively demonstrate that PA-824 has no effect on the viability of M. leprae in all three models, consistent with the lack of the nitroimidazo-oxazine-specific nitroreductase, encoded by Rv3547 in the M. leprae genome, which is essential for activation of this molecule.
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