Scientist discover new protein against bacteria

[mr friendly guy]

http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-t ... 6438029611

New alternative to antibiotics: research

MELBOURNE researchers say they have discovered the atomic structure of an antibacterial viral protein that could be used as an alternative to antibiotics.
Researchers say PlyC, a viral protein known as bacteriophage lysin, was first identified in 1925 but was abandoned as a possible treatment for infections following the discovery of antibiotics.
As bacteria become increasingly resistant to antibiotics, researchers from The Rockefeller University, University of Maryland and Monash University's School of Biomedical Sciences say PlyC is a promising target for the development of new drugs in the future.
According to the research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA, PlyC can kill the bacteria that cause infections from pneumonia to streptococcal toxic shock syndrome.
After six years of investigation, Monash researchers have made a breakthrough in identifying the atomic structure of PlyC, in a bid to understand its antibacterial properties.
"Scientists have been trying to decipher the structure of PlyC for more than 40 years," said Monash's Dr Sheena McGowan.
"Finally knowing what it looks like, and how it attacks bacteria, is a huge step forward."
Dr McGowan said PlyC was an effective bacterial killing machine that resembled a flying saucer carrying two warheads.
"It operates by locking onto the bacterial surface using eight separate docking sites located on one face of the saucer. The two warheads can then chew through the surface of the cell, rapidly killing the bacteria," she said.
Monash University's Associate Professor Ashley Buckle said PlyC had been shown to be 100 times more efficient at killing certain bacteria than any other lysin to date, at a rate faster than household bleach.

Hopefully this will add to our clinical arsenal to treat infections.

[Knife]

Hmm, interesting if a bit vague. Wonder what the rate of allergic reactions to it will be? Would be nice to have plan b, tough. Not to have to go to the big guns because some nasty little bug is resistant to Cipro or something.

[CJvR]

Hopefully this will add to our clinical arsenal to treat infections.

Hopefully, if it is successful, it will be used with more care than antibiotics.

[kc8tbe]

The protein wouldn't be an alternative to antibiotics. It would be an alternative to existing antibiotics, a new class of antibiotic. There's no reason to expect that bacteria won't evolve resistance to a viral protein (or a synthetic variant of it) when they've evolved numerous mechanisms of resistance to fungal proteins (e.g. penicillin). That said, it's always nice to have more drugs in the antibiotic armamentarium.

[Napoleon the Clown]

Hopefully this will add to our clinical arsenal to treat infections.

Hopefully, if it is successful, it will be used with more care than antibiotics.

That's the funniest thing I've read all day. Unless you lock someone in a hospital and force them to finish their medication there's gonna be people who stop taking it "because I feel better."

That being said, let's hope this actually pans out. A bigger arsenal is always a good thing, when combating disease.

[mr friendly guy]

Actually there are still ways antibiotics can be prescribed better. For example switch from broad spectrum to narrow spectrum antibiotics once the bacteria has been identified and sensitivities are available.

The other thing I suppose is to document and confirm whether you really had a true allergic reaction to penicillin. If your throat really did start swelling up and you can't breath then I am quite happy to give your moxifloxacin for that community acquired pneumonia. Otherwise its amoxycillin +/- another antibiotic to cover atypicals for you.

[CJvR]

Unless you lock someone in a hospital and force them to finish their medication there's gonna be people who stop taking it "because I feel better."

Actually that happens.

[Napoleon the Clown]

I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding what you're saying or if you're misunderstanding me. You'll always get a few people who don't take medication as directed. That group is big enough to contribute to the problems we're seeing with antibiotics today.

And the assholes who demand antibiotics for a fucking cold.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

I can't say very much since, well, research needs to get published and such, but I've worked on (and been cited as a co-author for) one paper regarding this technology which are already up, and basically we are getting to where we can fairly arbitrarily control drug release, so the long-term solution to getting people to take all their antibiotics will be giving them a single dose which releases a measured quantity of antibiotic over the full treatment course. Basically targeted, encapsulated microfluidics based bioengineering technologies for drug delivery are becoming highly sophisticated.

[PeZook]

I can't say very much since, well, research needs to get published and such, but I've worked on (and been cited as a co-author for) one paper regarding this technology which are already up, and basically we are getting to where we can fairly arbitrarily control drug release, so the long-term solution to getting people to take all their antibiotics will be giving them a single dose which releases a measured quantity of antibiotic over the full treatment course. Basically targeted, encapsulated microfluidics based bioengineering technologies for drug delivery are becoming highly sophisticated.

Won't this lead to problems for people who are genuinely fucked up by antibiotics? My doc always tells me to stop taking them and see her if I get certain symptoms like abdominal pains etc

Imagine a guy who's allergic to pennicilin, doesn't know it, but took the entire entire course in a single dose...

[The Duchess of Zeon]

I can honestly say that is a really trivial concern compared to the dangers of our getting to the point where antibiotics are totally useless again and we have 50,000 people dying of cholera a month in Lagos or something. We can also prevent drug release so in principle nullification of the drug should be possible, though I am a lot hazier on that and cannot speak authoritatively; a bit above my paygrade for the research, so to speak.

[Irbis]

Well, if the slow-releasing drug is administered orally and releases antibiotics in intestines, I can think of several methods of removing it in hurry if there's really need for that.