Rolee Sharma
Associate Professor
Department of Biosciences
Integral University
India
Biography
My doctoral work (at the Pharmaceutics division, CDRI) has shown that anti-TB drugs delivered as oral doses or inhalable microparticles differentially affect drug bioavailability and innate responses of macrophages to TB infection. Mycobacteria infected macrophages receiving microparticles showed enhanced respiratory burst, nitric oxide production, cytokine secretion and caspase dependent apoptosis. Thus, in addition to building up high intracellular drug concentrations, microparticles induce serendipitous activation of lung macrophages infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and thereby significantly enhance bactericidal activity of the drugs. This suggests that inhalable microparticles containing multiple anti-TB drugs offer promises of dose and dosing frequency reduction, toxicity alleviation and targeting macrophage resident Mycobacteria.
Research Interest
Innate Reponses leading to microbe recognition and host defense strategies, Drug targeting, Macrophage activation and host pathogen cross talks during infection or pathological states.
Publications
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Kaur J, Muttil P, Verma RK, Kumar K, Sharma R et al.(2008) A Hand held apparatus for “Nose-Only†exposure of mice to inhalable microparticles as a Dry Powder Inhalation targeting lung and Airway macrophages. Euro J Pharm Sci 34: 56-65
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Yadav AB, Sharma R, Muttil P, Singh AK, Verma RK et al.(2009) Inhalable Microparticles Containing Isoniazid and Rifabutin Target Macrophages and "Stimulate the Phagocyte" to Achieve High Efficacy. Ind J Exp Biol (Special issue on Emerging Trends in TB, HIV and Leishmaniasis) 47: 469-474
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Sharma R, Yadav AB, Muttil P, Kajal H, Misra A(2011) Inhalable Microparticles Modify Cytokine Secretion By Lung Macrophages Of Infected Mice. Tuberculosis. 2011, 91: 107-110
