New Antibiotic Cures Superbugs Without Bacterial Resistance

In a potential game changer for the treatment of superbugs, a brand-new class of antibiotics was developed that cured mice infected with bacteria regarded virtually “untreatable” in humans– and resistance to the drug was undetectable.

Produced by a research team of UC Santa Barbara researchers, the research study was released in the journal eBioMedicine. The antibiotic disrupts many bacterial functions all at once, which may explain how it destroyed every pathogen tested and why low-level bacterial resistance was observed after extended drug exposure.

The project was led by professors Michael Mahan, David Low, and Chuck Samuel and their research group, Douglas Heithoff, Scott Mahan, Lucien Barnes, and Cyril George. More contributors include professors Guillermo Bazan (UC Santa Barbara) and Andrei Osterman (Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute).

Antibiotic breakthrough

The discovery was serendipitous. The U.S. Army had an urgent need to charge cell phones while in the field– necessary for soldier survival. Because bacteria are miniature power plants, compounds were developed by Bazan’s group to harness bacterial energy as a “microbial” battery. Later the concept developed to re-purpose these compounds as possible antibiotics.

“When asked to identify if the chemical substances might work as antibiotics, we assumed they would certainly be extremely hazardous to human cells comparable to bleach,” claimed Mahan, the job lead detective. “Most were toxic– however, one was not– and it can eliminate every bacterial pathogen we tested.”

What makes the drug unique is the bacteria’s failure to become immune to it. And bacterial resistance is commonly a major barrier to antibiotic advancement, given that it restricts a medication’s prospective value in the industry.

“The crucial finding was that bacterial resistance to the drug was essentially undetectable,” stated lead author Heithoff. “Most medicines fail at this growth phase and never reach clinical method.”

The antibiotic has a distinct mechanism of action. Unlike most medications (like penicillin) that target a particular germ function, the new drug targets several functions at the same time.

“The drug appears to affect the bacterial membrane, which, in turn, disrupts numerous bacterial functions,” explained Low, the co-project lead. “This might represent the broad-spectrum antibacterial activity and low level of bacterial resistance.”

“This class of antibiotics has potential as a new versatile therapy for antimicrobial-resistant pathogens,” Samuel stated.

Additional medication safety and efficacy research will need to be carried out to completely understand the clinical benefits and risks before the drug can be used in clinical practice.

Read the original article on Science Daily.

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