New study links blood glycerol levels to tuberculosis severity in Type 2 Diabetes

A collaborative study between the A*STAR Infectious Diseases Labs (A*STAR ID Labs) and the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Chan Medical School has uncovered that elevated glycerol levels are responsible for increased severity of tuberculosis (TB) disease in experimental models with Type 2 diabetes (T2D).

This research advances our understanding of how both diseases interact with each other, identifying elevated glycerol and an enzyme utilising glycerol in the pathogen responsible for causing TB as novel therapeutic avenues for treating patients with these conditions. The paper was published in Nature Communications on 20 September 2023.

This study sheds light on the mechanism behind this interaction and the exacerbated TB disease among the experimental models with T2D. It also underscores the vital importance of preventative and proactive disease management in T2D patients, aligning with the Healthier SG plan’s key priorities.

The researchers of this study found that T2D led to more bacteria in the lung, tissue damage and deaths when infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the bacterial pathogen responsible for causing TB. Notably, elevated blood glycerol, a sugar alcohol, emerged as a crucial factor influencing the interaction between T2D and TB. When the ability of Mtb to utilise glycerol for metabolism was blocked, by deleting an enzyme known as glycerol kinase, the severity of lung damage decreased. This indicated that Mtb can feed on glycerol to drive TB disease severity in T2D. As a result, people with T2D are more likely to be susceptible to TB because Mtb can utilise excess glycerol present in their blood and bodies, leading to more severe disease.

This study makes a significant breakthrough in our understanding of TB-T2D interactions by pinpointing elevated glycerol as a novel therapeutic target for treating TB disease in T2D patients. This paves the way for developing innovative host-directed therapeutics, which is crucial for addressing the heightened susceptibility of T2D populations to TB.

Reference: New study links blood glycerol levels to tuberculosis severity in Type 2 Diabetes; Nature Communications