Summary

We consider this work highly relevant given the steadily increasing incidence of non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) over the past decade. Mycobacterium abscessus infections are characterized by high intrinsic drug resistance, an increasing emergence of acquired resistance, and cure rates below 50%, necessitating prolonged and multi-drug regimens. Progress in therapeutic development is hindered by the poor translation between in vitro drug activity and mammalian in vivo outcomes, pressing the need for relevant and reliable models for in vivo antimycobacterial efficacy screening. To address these challenges, we developed a bioluminescent Galleria mellonella model that enables longitudinal, non-invasive monitoring of M. abscessus burden and infection kinetics.