Peptides against painful addiction
Russian scientists have found a way to resist addiction to antibiotics
Scientists of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) have proposed to block the system of adaptation of bacteria to antibiotics with the help of peptide inhibitors (blockers), which are small proteins. Together with the Kurchatov Institute Research Center ‒ PIAF, SPbPU researchers have created a peptide harmless to the human body that can inhibit a key enzyme of the bacterial SOS response. The results of the research conducted within the framework of the RNF grant were published in the journal Nuclear Acids Research.
"The bacterium mutates and acquires qualities that help it overcome the action of the antibiotic, and our remedy blocks the adaptation process at the genetic level, turning off the systems of accelerated evolution of bacteria," explained Alexander Yakimov, an employee of the Nanobiotechnology Research Complex of SPbPU. He also said that in the course of the study, a computational method for constructing unique peptides with the maximum possible stability and biologically active spatial structure was developed.
The number of antibiotics being developed has been gradually decreasing in recent years, and the effectiveness of their use is weakening. "There is also an active search abroad for methods to combat bacterial resistance to antibiotics, but so far these developments have not yielded a positive result," Alexander Yakimov added.
Recall that recently the Government of the Russian Federation published a strategy to combat antimicrobial resistance in Russia for the period up to 2030. The strategy provides for the study of the mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance and systematic monitoring of its spread, improvement of measures to prevent and limit the spread of pathogens with antimicrobial resistance, development of antimicrobial drugs and alternative methods of diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases.
It is expected that the development of Russian scientists will increase the effectiveness of prevention and treatment of infectious and parasitic diseases of humans, animals and plants, reduce the severity and duration of treatment of diseases.
As RIA Novosti was informed in the SPbPU Media Center, at this stage the effectiveness of the domestic method has already been proven and, based on the results of the work, a patent was obtained on the topic "A family of peptides - inhibitors of RecA protein activity that block the SOS response in bacteria."
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