A bolt with a left thread was found on the tricky microbes
Bacteriophages helped create a superantibiotic against super microbes
Copper news based on EurekAlert materials! – Scientists use nature against nature to develop an antibiotic with reduced resistanceA group of scientists from Rockefeller University (New York) and the California-based pharmaceutical company Astex Pharmaceuticals reported successful trials on an animal model of a new broad–spectrum protein antibiotic active against super-microbes - microorganisms resistant to the action of other antibacterial agents, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), as well as the causative agent of anthrax Bacillus anthracis.
The work was published in the journal PLOS One (Schuch et al., Use of a Bacteriophage Lysin to Identify a Novel Target for Antimicrobial Development).
The development of a new superantibiotic, called Epimerox by the authors, took a total of more than seven years. The key point in creating an antibacterial agent is the choice of a target, that is, a vulnerable place in the structure of a bacterial cell, and in this matter the authors focused on bacteriophages – viruses with a selective bactericidal effect. They managed to find a fundamentally new target – the enzyme 2-epimerase synthesized by bacteria to maintain the integrity of its cell wall.
It was found that this enzyme plays a key role in the interaction of the phage affecting Bacillus anthracis and bacteria. Lysine produced by this phage – an enzyme that destroys the bacterial cell wall – binds to 2-epimerase to achieve its goal.
Epimerox is an allosteric inhibitor of 2-epimerase. His tests on mice infected with Bacillus anthracis not only protected them from anthrax disease, but also showed that the bacterium does not develop resistance to the antibiotic. The same effect has been demonstrated with MRSA.
"Since all gram-positive bacteria synthesize 2-epimerase, we are confident that Epimerox is a broad–spectrum antibacterial agent," said the leader of the development group, head of the laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis and Immunology at Rockefeller University, Professor Vincent A. Fischetti. He noted that the identification of targets for antibiotics based on the study of the interaction of phages and bacteria has great prospects, since in this case the bacterium cannot change so easily or "bypass the obstacle". "This circumstance gives us confidence that the probability of developing resistance to Epimerox is extremely low, which is a very encouraging result in a situation where the growth of antibiotic resistance of microorganisms is a problem that worries the entire world community," Fischetti stressed.
It is worth noting that the idea to use bacteriophages and their lysines to fight infections appeared at the end of the XIX century, after the discovery of their bactericidal properties by N.F. Gamaleya. The successful use of these viruses and their active enzymes for the destruction of staphylococci, streptococci and other bacterial agents has been reported. In particular, in September 2012, a group of scientists from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California reported the discovery of bacteriophages capable of infecting the cells of the bacterium Propionibacterium acnes, which contributes to the development of the inflammatory process in the sebaceous glands of the skin.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru17.04.2013