Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) inhibitors may be effective in suppressing the Lyme disease–causing Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium, according to a novel in vitro study published by Lynch et al in Pathogens. LDH inhibitors are commonly used to treat cancer, and both cancer cells and B burgdorferi rely on glycolysis to metabolize carbon—leading researchers to hypothesize that blocking LDH may be an effective strategy for treating patients with Lyme disease. The researchers discovered that concentrations of 70.5 μm of racemic gossypol and 187.5 μm of AT-101 were capable of fully inhibiting the growth of B burgdorferi in vitro. Further, the dextrorotary enantiomer of gossypol demonstrated greater efficacy than the levorotary enantiomer. In a companion press release on the findings from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the study authors concluded: “These experiments were done outside of hosts. Now we need to carry this out in mouse models and, eventually, in [patients].”
August 10, 2023