The effectiveness of antibiotics against hazardous bacteria resistant to treatment can be enhanced with the help of chemoattractants – molecules that attract immune cells to the fight against infection. It was found out by scientists from the University of Monasha (Australia) and Harvard University (USA), which created a new immunotherapeutic drug to combat golden staphylococcus. The results of the study are published in the journal Nature Communications.
Worldwide, the situation with microbials resistant to antibiotics is exacerbated. A special danger is MRSA – Golden Staphylococci (Staphylococcus aureus) resistant to methisillin. Among all staphylococcal infections, MRSA blood flow is 37 percent and more often leads to death. These bacteria are also able to allocate substances that allow them to shy away from the immune system of an infected organism, including neutrophils – cells, neutralizing pathogenic microbes.
Usually, the organism uses chemoattractants to attract neutrophils to the infection site, but they are often not enough. To solve this problem, scientists tied the chemoattractant formalpeptide (FPEPS) with a vancomycin antibiotic, having received an immunotherapeutic preparation for the treatment of staphylococcal infection. Vancomycin was attached to the bacteria wall, and FPEPs created a chemoattractant gradient surrounding S. aureus cells. Thus, more neutrophils were drawn to bacteria, which increased phagocytosis – the absorption of the microbe of the immune cell.
Antibiotics-chemoattractants were tested on a mouse model of pneumonia caused by MRSA. An hour after the grozunam’s infection, the drug was introduced at a dose of 0.2 milligrams per person, which is five times less than the equivalent dose of vancomycin for humans. This led to a two-time reduction in the bacterial load in the lungs compared to mice, which was introduced by an antibiotic without chemoattractant. The drug did not allow inflammation to spread to bronchi and lumets bronchiole.
According to the authors of work, antibiotics chemoattractants have demonstrated the potential for the “rejuvenation” of the existing antibiotics, which have to refuse to benefit more efficient drugs. This is a completely new type of therapy, directed against resistant bacteria. Currently, scientists are looking for partners to continue clinical trials. A patent for an immunotherapeutic drug belongs to the University of Monasha.