In what seems to be a game-changer development in the medical efforts to counter the drug-resistant bacteria called ‘superbugs’, a study has found that through molecular re-engineering of the existing antibiotics, more potent antibiotics can be developed to treat bacterial infections, potentially saving millions of lives.
Researchers from the University of Adelaide and Prof John Moses of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have discovered a way to re-engineer the existing antibiotics to make them more potent against antibiotic resistant bacteria.
By using a new technique called click chemistry, which involves connecting two molecules of an antibiotic with a flexible, shape-shifting core, the scientists were able to modify an antibiotic, vancomycin, which is often used as a last resort for serious bacterial infections. The new molecules produced were stronger antibiotics and were able to kill bacteria that were initially resistant to vancomycin.
The overuse of antibiotics has allowed bacteria to develop resistance to current antibiotics, and if action is not taken, we may soon run out of antibiotic options to treat even the simplest infections, warns co-senior author Dr Tatiana Soares da Costa.
Antimicrobial resistance, including drug-resistant bacteria, is already responsible for approximately 1,000 deaths a year in Australia, and drug-resistant bacteria are predicted to cause over 10 million deaths per year across the globe by 2050.
The World Health Organization has classified the rapid emergence of drug-resistant bacteria as a top 10 global public health threat.
While re-engineering existing antibiotics has been a long-standing approach to antibiotic development, this is the first time that a shape-shifting core has been used to produce new antibiotics. This breakthrough represents a major step forward in the battle against superbugs and shows that re-engineering current antibiotics is a viable approach to fast track the development of better antibiotics to the market, potentially saving millions of lives, according to Dr Soares da Costa.
The study has been published in the journal PNAS.
