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New Drug Uses Immune System to Kill Deadly Bacteria
Scientists have created a drug that kills antibiotic-resistant bacteria with the help of the body's immune system. (Article by Mary Sabulski Feigman et al. Synthetic Immunotherapeutics against Gram-negative Pathogens is published in the journal Cell Chemical Biology – VM.)
Researchers from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, led by Marcos Pires, were inspired by the latest successes of immune therapy for cancer, when the body's own immune system can be taught to fight tumor cells. They decided to try using the immune system to help antibiotics be more effective. To do this, they combined molecules of an existing antibiotic (polymyxin) and a substance that activates antibodies when pathogens, for example, bacteria, enter the body.
They tested the resulting drug on a number of bacteria listed by the World Health Organization in the list of the highest priority goals for the development of new drugs, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which causes a number of dangerous infections in humans and shows high resistance to infectious diseases. The researchers expected that bacterial resistance to the drug would develop more slowly due to its dual mechanism of action.
In an experiment conducted on nematodes infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the drug successfully destroyed the bacteria. Polymyxin, as it should, damages the membranes of bacterial cells, and the immune system cells attracted to the site of action complete the job.
Figure from an article in Cell Chemical Biology – VM
When testing the drug in combination with an existing antibiotic to which the bacteria were resistant, it was found that this resistance was being lost. Therefore, many old antibiotics that have fallen out of use can be used again for treatment.
The new drug binds to molecules on the surface of bacterial cells that are absent in human cells. "We believe that the expansive difference in cellular composition between bacterial cells and healthy cells will provide the necessary window of selectivity for targeted bacterial cells without affecting healthy human cells," Pires said.
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