Research work at the Center for Personalized Precision Medicine of Tuberculosis (cPMTb)
Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death worldwide and South Korea has the highest incidence and mortality rate of the disease of all the OECD countries. Professor Jae-Gook Shin is a pharmacologist based at the Center for Personalized Precision Medicine of Tuberculosis (cPMTb), which was established based on the premise of adopting a personalised approach to TB prevention and treatment. A key focus for Shin and his collaborators is personalised precision treatment and monitoring of TB patients, with 67 professors and clinicians from 20 clinical research cohort sites in the Republic of Korea involved in this pursuit. cPMTb has 30 years' personalised precision medicine R&D experience behind it. In their work, the researchers are using model-informed precision dosing to allow for the initial dose suggestion and then a dose adjustment during treatment for TB. Their personalised approach involves the use of epidemiological and clinical information, biochemical testing and genetic profiles of individuals. The goal is to improve the effectiveness of treatment and also reduce adverse drug reactions. A 'bench-to-bedside' approach is taken, with cPMTb's central laboratory facilitating in vitro and in vivo drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) studies as well as genotyping. This has meant that the researchers have been able to validate the role of NAT2 and SLCO1B1 variants in the cPMTb cohort. The team has been successful in establishing a hollow fibre infection model for TB research and will expand this work to support personalised dosing using clinical isolates.