Drug resistance of microorganisms is one of the most serious problems of today’s medicine.
With the advent of antibiotics in the 40s, doctors felt the ideal drug to fight infection had been found. However, it soon turned out that bacteria can quickly mutate and become resistant to known preparations. A peculiar “arms race” began. However, the number of new antibiotics has fallen sharply in recent years.
A group of scientists from the University of Pennsylvania announced the creation of a new type of antibiotic. It does not (so far) cause drug resistance, and its effectiveness against some strains significantly exceeds the drugs used so far.
The starting point in the work on a new type of antibiotic was the discovery made by Kenneth Keiler in 1996. He described a previously unknown mechanism (so-called trans-translation) in the process of protein biosynthesis, characteristic only for bacteria. Since then, Keiler and his team have been looking for molecules that can block trans-translation and “break” and thus stop the production of bacterial proteins.
After testing 663 on colon rods. different molecules, scientists selected 46 that were most effective in blocking the trans-translation process. One of them (KKL-35) has been reported to be extremely effective against tuberculosis mycobacteria, and also capable of inactivating anthrax bacilli.
While this is undoubtedly good news, some experts are very cautious.
– All previous attempts to create such compounds, unfortunately, stopped at the stage of experimental research. The approach is interesting. But it all depends on whether they can find a compound, firstly, non-toxic to humans, and secondly, that will really have antimicrobial activity on clinical strains of bacteria, not just in an experiment on cells. If it succeeds, then it will be possible to talk about some kind of perspective – comments the professor at the Moscow Medical Academy. Shechenova, Sergei Yakovlev.
Even then, however, it cannot be argued that the bacteria will not be able to develop resistance to the new antibiotic. These microorganisms have proven their resistance and “smartness” many times.
Sources: PSU / Voice of Our Country