Posted on 06/18/2014 6:27:26 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Scientists at the University of East Anglia have made a breakthrough in the race to solve antibiotic resistance.
New research published today in the journal Nature reveals an Achilles’ heel in the defensive barrier which surrounds drug-resistant bacterial cells.
The findings pave the way for a new wave of drugs that kill superbugs by bringing down their defensive walls rather than attacking the bacteria itself. It means that in future, bacteria may not develop drug-resistance at all.
The discovery doesn’t come a moment too soon. The World Health Organization has warned that antibiotic-resistance in bacteria is spreading globally, causing severe consequences. And even common infections which have been treatable for decades can once again kill.
Researchers investigated a class of bacteria called ‘Gram-negative bacteria’ which is particularly resistant to antibiotics because of its cells’ impermeable lipid-based outer membrane.
This outer membrane acts as a defensive barrier against attacks from the human immune system and antibiotic drugs. It allows the pathogenic bacteria to survive, but removing this barrier causes the bacteria to become more vulnerable and die.
Until now little has been known about exactly how the defensive barrier is built. The new findings reveal how bacterial cells transport the barrier building blocks (called lipopolysaccharides) to the outer surface.
Group leader Prof Changjiang Dong, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, said: “We have identified the path and gate used by the bacteria to transport the barrier building blocks to the outer surface. Importantly, we have demonstrated that the bacteria would die if the gate is locked.”
“This is really important because drug-resistant bacteria is a global health problem. Many current antibiotics are becoming useless, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths each year.
“The number of super-bugs are increasing at an unexpected rate. This research provides the platform for urgently-needed new generation drugs.”
Lead author PhD student Haohao Dong said: “The really exciting thing about this research is that new drugs will specifically target the protective barrier around the bacteria, rather than the bacteria itself.
“Because new drugs will not need to enter the bacteria itself, we hope that the bacteria will not be able to develop drug resistance in future.”
This research was funded by Wellcome Trust. Research collaborators included the University of St Andrews, Dr Neil Paterson of Diamond Light Source (UK), Dr Phillip Stansfield from the University of Oxford, and Prof Wenjan Wang of Sun Yat-sen University (China).
‘Structural basis for outer membrane lipopolysaccharide insertion’ is published in the journal Nature on June 18, 2014.
Oh. I see. In your world no one ever takes most of a course of a single antibiotic. Interesting. Good to know. Thanks.
Wow! You mean people will actually have to read the warning labels?
What a burden!
How unreasonable!
Of course, untreated reflux leads to erosion of the esophagus and the vomiting that comes with the reflux is not only bad for your teeth but leads to unbalanced electrolytes which can lead to death.
Well now again, is that really fair? A single antibiotic does indeed supply a single threat. And it does (often) have a a beneficial effect. But it is precisely because of the singleness of the effect that bacteria can evolve outside of the effects of a single antibiotic, and the resulting "conditioning" of the bacterial populations is the big fat problem with regular (and even statistically predictable ) antibiotic failures. OUTSIDE of single antibiotics, however, bacteria naturally deal with multiple simultaneous attacks all the time, and so develop - naturally - a simultaneous multi-phasic defense system to deal with it.
Geez Louise, this is the entire problem of the antibiotic approach in a nutshell! That's why it's presumable - IMO - that continuing the same strategy on a different front will inevitably result in the same kinds of conditioning responses from the bacteria. I don't know, maybe this particular approach will last longer or be more effective. But to claim it's the be-all, end-all, game-over for bacterial infections, given that it IS the same general strategy, seems absurd for a scientific declaration. Media, advertising, yeah. But scientists should know better.
Yes, but might peg them back for a while.
And that WOULD be a valid scientific claim, IMO.
Well, I guess scientists have to sell ideas like everyone else these days. I don’t suppose “peg the bacteria back for a couple of decades, tops” has as much appeal as “end bacterial immunity for all time completely.”
No, it doesn't. But while they were at it, why not add "viagra replacement allows you to walk on water and burn fat at the same time" as well?
There is (nominally) something called scientific ethics. And when that fails there's at least scientific believeability.
Or there was, before global warming.
Oh look, this announcement is coming out of East Anglia, ground zero of the global warming hoax. What a coincidence.
And I didnt even go to UEA!
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