“Antibiotic resistance is an important public health problem.” A study by a consortium of researchers from INRAE, CNRS, University of Paris Saclay and Inserm, was able to identify a molecule capable of “disarming” pathogenic bacteria against the immune system, without having negative effects on the patient’s microbiota.
The study highlights the problem represented by the resistance to antibiotics, emphasizing the fact that, according to WHO, five million people die each year in the world for that. Antibian resistance could also become the main cause of mortality by 2050, therefore, to have cardiovascular disease.
Antibiotic resistance, by making certain medications against bacterial infection be ineffective, can lead to the impossibility of treating certain pathologies. An antibiotic is used to treat infections related to bacteria such as pneumonia, sexually transmitted diseases, meningitis, otitis or urinary tract infections.
“Although antibiotics have considerably reduced the mortality associated with infectious diseases, their sometimes excessive and abusive use has led to the development of bacterial resistance,” researchers underline in their study. In addition, antibiotics do not address the specificity in the host and, therefore, can have consequences in all bacteria of the patient’s microbiota.
New drugs
Inrae scientists have established that the protein called MFD was “essential to resist the host immune system” and, therefore, help bacteria develop drug resistance.
Therefore, blocking this protein in question that researchers managed to “disarm” bacteria by using a molecule called NM102 that binds to the MFD protein and, therefore, avoids its action.
“The molecule ‘disarms, therefore, the pathogenic bacterium while protecting the bacteria of the microbiota. In a very promising way, this molecule is also effective in bacterial strains withdrawal to current treatments and hospitalized patients,” concludes the consortium of researchers.
Thanks to these conclusions, two patents may have been presented with a view to the development of new drugs that can help fight against antibiotics.
Source: BFM TV
