Antibiotic shows potential to fight superbugs – 02/17/2024 – Science

Scientists have developed a drug with the potential to successfully combat superbugs in humans.

The new antibiotic, known as cresomycin, proved effective in tests carried out on mice. The drug acted against several bacteria that cause serious infections and are increasingly resistant to existing treatments, according to a study published in the journal Science last Thursday (15).

“The most important thing is that it kills antibiotic-resistant strains in animals,” said Yury Polikanov, co-author of the research and associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Illinois Chicago. “It’s more powerful [do que seus predecessores] and more potent against deadly bacteria.”

The positive result with cresomycin comes amid research efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites develop the ability to resist treatments.

AMR, largely caused by overuse of antibiotics, is already linked to 5 million deaths a year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Hospitals are particularly susceptible to the spread of superbugs.

Cresomycin proved to be effective against a variety of dangerous bacteria that are prominent in the spread of AMR, the study found. Among them are Staphylococcus aureuswhich causes infections in the skin and other organs; Escherichia coli (E-coli), responsible for intestinal and urinary tract diseases; It is Pseudomonas aeruginosaa trigger for blood and lung infections.

A major obstacle to addressing AMR is that decades of underinvestment in research has led to a lack of promising new synthetic antibiotics. Doctors have long turned to treatments derived from natural products, such as penicillins and cephalosporins obtained from fungi, but they are becoming less and less effective as pathogens evolve.

The authors of the new study said the result raises hopes for “the discovery in the future of broadly effective antibacterial agents against antimicrobial resistance.”

To create cresomycin, they took inspiration from an existing antibiotic. They remodeled it and added extra features to deal with the changes that antimicrobial resistance has caused in target pathogens, according to Polikanov.

The results of the cresomycin trials look promising, according to Tim Walsh, a professor at the University of Oxford and an expert on antimicrobial resistance. However, he highlighted, more data is needed on the effectiveness of the molecule against the group of bacteria called gram-negative, which are protected by an outer membrane and represent a central problem in the spread of antimicrobial resistance.

“Until it is further examined, it is difficult to predict the value of this new antibiotic against serious gram-negative bacterial infections as a singular therapy,” said Walsh, who was not involved in the study. “But cresomycin’s synthetic design, based on intuitive logic, provides an exciting framework for future developments.”

Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche is conducting phase one clinical trials on an antibiotic that successfully targeted a gram-negative bacteria known as Acinetobacter baumannii, carbapenem-resistant, or Crab. Scientists said the discovery of this drug, revealed in a study last month, could be the basis for developing new ones in which it would be reformulated to target other antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

Crab, which causes life-threatening illnesses in hospital patients, is classified as a priority concern by the WHO and an urgent threat by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.