The research team led by Professor Zhang Tianyu of the tuberculosis team of the SKLRD and the research team led by Professor Liu Jianxiong, worked with other organizations such as the Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen and the KTH Royal Polytechnic of the University of Olbanova to discover that glutamate kinase (GK) may become a new target of anti-TB drugs. The research for the first time reported that the small molecule strengthens rather than inhibits the activity of metabolic enzyme, which may become a new strategy for potential anti-TB drugs. Relevant research finding was published on Cell Chemical of the journal Cell (IF=6.762) on June 14, 2019 with the title of “Quinoline derivatives kill Mycobacterium tuberculosis by activating glutamate kinase”.


Schematic model of the killing mechanism of Z0933/Z0930 against Mtb.