A research team led by scientists from the Texas A&M Institute of Biosciences and Technology has identified a potential way to combat infections caused by Staphylococcus (or "staph") bacteria. What’s more, the method used in the study is less likely to cause the problem of drug resistance. The scientists have already published their findings in EBioMedicine.
Although a lot of progress has been made in treating bacterial infections, many species of bacteria are still killing. For example, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a type of bacteria that has become resistant to many of the commonly used antibiotics. Bacteria like MRSA are called superbugs, which kill approximately 11,000 people in America annually. People often get exposed to these extremely harmful bacteria in health case settings, in particular hospitals. It is necessary to take measures to clean these places in order to prevent their spread.
Co-author Dr Magnus Hook said that monoclonal antibodies are being developed to treat cancer but they would be also used to combat infections. one such drug called tefibazumab (which is also named aurexis but not approved) is a humanized monoclonal antibody for the treatment of severe infections with MRSA. Results of animal experiments were encouraging. However, when scientists tested it in clinical trials, tefibazumab failed to kill MRSA effectively.
For this new work, Dr Hook and colleagues sought to determine the precise cause of its failure. Using various technologies, they obtained detailed structural information of a protein complex formed by binding of the monoclonal antibody to its target on the bacteria. With the findings, the researchers identified why it fails to work in people. Scientists might be able to modify the antibody to make it work in people, according to co-author Dr Vannakambadi K. Ganesh.
Antibody drugs work rather differently from traditional antibiotics. For this reason, it would be more difficult for bacteria to develop resistance to them. Antibiotic resistance is an urgent issue in the medical field. The new study give scientists a novel chance to develop innovative drugs to fight it.
Although aggressive hospital infection control initiatives seem to reduce hospital-acquired MRSA rates, the health burden of it is still very high. Innovative therapeutics are in urgent need to fight MRSA. As a biotech, CusAb offers FITC conjugated antibody and other antibodies for you.
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